NCoS Mum As Gunmen Storm Imo Prison, Free 7 Inmates, Kill Policeman

48 hours after gunmen suspected to be members of the outlawed IPOB stormed the Nigeria Correctional Farm Settlement in Okigwe Senatorial zone of Imo State Monday, freeing seven inmates and killing a policeman, the authorities of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) has kept mum about the ugly event which many believed spell doom for the society.

The brazen raid in the northern city of Imo State comes as the the gunmen suspected to be IPOB militia group ramp-up attacks on government and political targets despite being embroiled in a bitter leadership tussle.

LEADERSHIP gathered that the attackers, who spent hours in the settlement without any resistance, also abducted the NCoS supervisor and officer-in-charge of the settlement before moving to raid Senator Patrick Ndubeze’s residence.

While the NCoS was still silent on the attack and refused to respond to calls put to its national spokesperson as at the time of this report, the State’s Commissioner of Police, Danjuma Aboki, who visited the scene, has vowed to ensure the rescue of Correctional Farm Settlement supervisor.

He, therefore, ordered the immediate deployment of the Command’s Special Tactical Squad to hunt down the suspected IPOB/ESN attackers and bring them to book.

A statement by the Police Command’s spokesman, Henry Okoye, blamed IPOB/ESN for the attack on Correctional Service Farm Settlement, Umualomoke, and the residence of Senator Patrick Ndubeze, both in Okigwe, which resulted in the release of seven inmates, and abduction of the officer in charge of the farm settlement, as well as the killing of a Police Inspector, respectively.

The statement revealed that “the CP has mandated the special tactical squad operatives to intensify efforts in ensuring that the officer in charge of the farm settlement is rescued unhurt and the fleeing inmates arrested and made to face the full wrath of the law.”