Fresh facts have emerged on how embattled Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Abba Kyari, as well as ex-governor Joshua Dariye of Plateau State and his Taraba State counterpart, Jolly Nyame, and others in the VIP wing of the Kuje Custodial Centre in Abuja escaped death when members of the Islamic State West Africa Province blew up the facility.
The former commander of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and four members of his team were remanded in the facility pending the determination of their ongoing trial over drug related offences levelled against them by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Dariye, Nyame, a former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), Abdulrasheed Maina, and a former Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Ad-hoc Committee on Petroleum Subsidy, Farouk Lawan, are among the VIPs serving jail terms in the correctional centre.
The terrorists, who stormed the Custodial Centre on Tuesday night, freed over 800 inmates, including Boko Haram fighters held in the facility.
A personnel of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) lost his life while a policeman sustained severe injuries during the attack.
It was reliably gathered from sources including a senior officer of the correctional service and one of the VIP inmates that the terrorists targeted the VIP wing of the facility after they succeeded in setting free their members.
“The gunmen knew what they came for and where to locate their members. They surely understood every part of the prison and where their members were kept,” one of the sources disclosed.
The prison source revealed that after releasing their members, one of the terrorists started shouting the names of Abba Kyari and his men.
The source said the criminals headed towards the isolated area, saying in Hausa; “Abba Kyari you are dead, we will kill you now.”
The source said the terrorists rained bullets on the VIP wing of the facility but couldn’t gain access before some gunshots were heard outside the prison facility, which deterred the terrorists.
“We took cover under tables as the terrorists fired several rounds of ammunition,” one of the VIP inmates said.
The source said what saved the day was the shootings from military men from outside the building. (Text, except for amended headline: Daily Trust)