A day after a foiled attempted jailbreak at the Nigerian Correctional Service, Sapele, Delta State, two inmates reportedly escaped from the prison in another jailbreak early on Tuesday.
The spokesperson of the Delta State Police Command, Onome Onovwakpoyeya, who confirmed the reports on Tuesday, said some officials of the prisons also sustained some injuries.
“Yes, it is true. Two inmates escaped in the early hours of this morning and five others were injured while attempting to escape too and they have been hospitalised.
“The controller and one other prison staff were injured and as I speak to you, calm has returned to the prison,” she told Tribune Online.
It will be recalled that the inmates, in protest, set a section of the prison yard on fire on Monday morning and attempts by some to escape were foiled by security agents.
It was however, gathered on Tuesday that the two escapees scaled the wall of the prison through the women wing at the early hours of Tuesday.
Five other inmates, who also attempted to escape, were overpowered but got injured in the process as they are now receiving medical attention at the Sapele Central Hospital.
Trouble reportedly started on Monday night after Ovie Friday Ezesobor, the Delta State Controller, visited the prison in order to pacify the inmates to go back to their cells.
“After quelling the uproar yesterday afternoon, the Controller (Ovie) came back at about 9:30p.m and tried to plead with them to go back to their cell but the inmates refused.
“The controller wanted to handle the issue in his own way; he pleaded with them to go back to their cell but they refused,” a source told Tribune Online.
The source further noted that the Controller-General, Nigeria Correctional Service, Ja’Afaru Ahmed, at a point, got involved on how best to calm the frayed nerves of the inmates.
“The inmates started destroying and burning. Doors leading to cells were destroyed and set ablaze, glasses shattered and computers and drugs at the medical centre were destroyed.
“They (Ovie and the CG) were on the phone throughout the night and at one stage, the Delta State Controller was attacked and injured, I think that was when the Controller General decided security men should be invited.
“The security men, who moved in, were said to have spotted some inmates heading towards the female wing of the Correctional Service. That was why they moved in and found out some persons had arranged tables and chairs and were using them to scale the high fence, two had already escaped so the five were forcefully brought down,” the source said.
Tribune also reported that the Assistant Zonal Coordinator in charge of Zone G, comprising five states, Mrs Tina Okereke, visited the Sapele prisons on Tuesday.
