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Kuje Prison attack: Boko Haram had superior weapons, number — FG

Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammed Dingyadi

The Federal Government on Friday said the terrorists who attacked the Medium Security Correctional Centre in Kuje, Abuja succeeded because of their large number and superior firepower.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammed Dingyadi, who spoke with State House Correspondents on Friday.

This followed a meeting President Muhammadu Buhari had with security chiefs on Friday on the attack on the prison at the Presidential Villa in abuja.

Dingyadi said the security personnel deployed to the facility did their best to repel the attack, but were subdued by the superior weaponry and number of the terrorists.

He said: “You see, these kind of things.

“They happen.

“And I want to assure you that all those who are supposed to play a role in ensuring that the attack is neutralised did the best that they could to neutralise it.

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“I think what helped them (terrorists) was the number of people they came with and the superior weapons that they came with.

“And because nobody anticipated it, the few people who were there guarding the place could not withstand the number that they came with.

“I think that was what happened.

“Like I said, this investigation is still going on.

“You will only do good to allow the investigation to continue and may be by the time they finish, you will be able to get the details of what actually happened and why it happened.”

Dingyadi said some of the assailants were killed during the attack.

He said: “Some of them have been killed.

“But I can’t give you the number and I don’t know the number.

“Because like they use to do, whenever one of them is killed, they take the corpse away and you cannot know the number of people who have been killed but definitely quite a number of them were killed and many of them ran way with bullet wounds.”

Dingyadi said the meeting, which was summoned by President Buhari, reviewed the security situation in the country, particularly the Kuje jail break as a result of the attacks on the Correctional Centre by terrorists, the banditry attack in Katsina State, as well as the various attacks on Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.

The minister said the President was deeply concerned about the recent developments, adding: “Mr. President is surprised that what happened in Kuje actually took place in spite of all the security arrangement that has been made to ensure that such an incident does not happen.

“We are assuring the nation and Nigerians in general that arrangements have been made to ensure that full investigations are carried out to ensure that a repeat of these incidences will not occur.

“The Service Chiefs have been given very clear directives to ensure that adequate measures are taken not only to investigate what happened, but also to take steps to forestall the reoccurrence of such incidences.

“We call on Nigerians to continue to support the Federal Government in its effort to ensure that we fight criminalities to finish and to ensure that this country is brought back to normalcy in a more secure and a more peaceful atmosphere.

“We are moving toward 2023 and government is committed to ensuring that there’s peace, tranquility to ensure a very credible and a peaceful and transparent election in Osun State come early next week.”

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