All Boko Haram suspects escaped from Kuje prison – Nigeria’s defence minister, Magashi

Nigeria’s Minister of Defence, Bashir Magashi, has said all Boko Haram suspects in Kuje prison in Abuja have escaped.

Magashi revealed this on Wednesday at a press briefing at the facility in Abuja.

Gunmen had attacked the Kuje prison with explosives on Tuesday night.

Magashi said the attackers are Boko Haram insurgents and 64 of its members who were inmates in the facility cannot be found.

“What actually happened, they came in their numbers and released some of the inmates. We are now trying to set the kind of inmates they released,” he said.

“We are trying to see what we can do to see that all escapes within the prison accommodation are brought back to the prison yard.

“About 994 inmates, we have about 600 already inside now. Many people are being recaptured. The people who came to do this from the records belong to a particular group, from all indicators they are Boko haram.

“Presently we could not locate any of them. Currently, they are about 64 of them as inmates and we could not locate them.”

Security operatives are currently on a search and rescue mission with support from the air force to retake the inmates at large.