President Buhari of Nigeria describes the escape from prison that freed almost 2,000 prisoners as an ‘act of terrorism’

President Buhari of Nigeria describes the escape from prison that freed almost 2,000 prisoners as an ‘act of terrorism’

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Six of the 1,844 prisoners who escaped from Owerri Custody Center, Imo State, returned voluntarily, according to a spokesman for the Nigerian Correctional Service.

Another 35 people chose not to flee during the attack, officials said.

“The attackers who broke into the premises at about 02:15 on Monday, April 5, 2021, managed to enter the courtyard using explosives to blow up the administrative block,” said Francis Enobore, a spokesman for the Nigerian prison service.

The Nigeria Police Force blamed the illegal separatist group, the Biafra Indigenous People (IPOB) and its paramilitary wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN), for the attack.

Police said the gunmen, who had also invaded the force’s headquarters in the state, were armed with a variety of sophisticated armaments and military equipment.

“The attackers’ attempt to gain access to the Police arsenal at Headquarters was fully and appropriately resisted by the Nigeria Police Force,” the force said in a statement on Monday, adding that no lives were lost in the incident.

Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma in the center inspects the scene of an attack at police command headquarters in Owerri, Nigeria, on Monday, April 5, 2021.
President Muhammadu Buhari, who is currently on a medical visit to the UK, described the simultaneous attacks as “an act of terrorism, “in a statement published by its spokesman Garba Shehu.

Buhari also instructed the country’s law enforcement agencies to arrest fugitive prisoners and arrest perpetrators who “are believed to be deadly criminals,” said the president.

Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the separatist group IPOB, denied the organization’s involvement in the attacks.

He told CNN: “We have no part in what happened in Owerri, Imo state. That said, we recognize and acknowledge the anger, resentment and sense of injustice felt by many people – especially young people,” he said.

“So what is happening now is people trying to avenge the death of their loved ones at the hands of the Nigerian security services. Some people, I believe, have taken on the responsibility of saying ‘enough. Wherever a government allows injustice to infect , they are just inviting anarchy, Kanu added.

Nigerian officials killed 150 peaceful protesters, says Amnesty report
The IPOB was banned and designated as a terrorist organization in 2017 by the Nigerian government after its persistent demands for independence have fueled periodic clashes with security forces – leading to loss of life.

The Buhari regime continued to crack down on IPOB activities, fearing that an escalation of secessionism – particularly in the group’s strongholds in eastern Nigeria, could engender another Nigeria-Biafra civil war.

In a 2016 report, Amnesty International accused Nigerian security forces of being the mentors in the killing of dozens of unarmed pro-Biafra protesters. The claims were denied by the Nigerian army at the time.
In 1967, a high-ranking military officer – Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu – led the separatist republic of Biafra, a separatist state formed in southeastern Nigeria.

This led to a bitter civil war from 1967 to 1970 and more than a million people died of starvation after the war.

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