Posted by Olalekan Adetayo on
At least, 10 inmates of the Ikoyi Prison, Lagos State were feared dead on Tuesday after a clash with officers of the Nigerian Prisons Service.
At least, 10 inmates of the Ikoyi Prison, Lagos State were feared dead on Tuesday after a clash with officers of the Nigerian Prisons Service.
Unconfirmed reports had it that a suspected cannibal, who made waves in Lagos in 1999, Clifford Orji, might be among those who lost their lives.
The clash also left a number of inmates and about three prison officers injured.
The inmates were said to have burnt some offices, including that of the Chief Warder.
The spokesman of the NPS, Lagos State Command, Mr. Ope Fatinikun, denied that lives were lost and offices burnt.
The Minister of Internal Affairs, Alhaji Mohammed Mogaji, who visited the scene, also said that no deaths were recorded.
Mogaji said that the riot erupted when inmates resisted an attempt by prison guards to confiscate weapons and move some of them to different facilities.
'It was discovered that a lot of inmates had dangerous weapons like knives, cutlasses, daggers and even mobile phones in their custody. The officials tried to ensure that these things were taken away from them and they resisted," he said.
Our correspondent learnt that the riot began when information reached the inmates that some of them would be moved to the Kirikiri Maximum Prison, also in Lagos.
The prison authorities were said to have quickly sent a distress call to the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, Mr. Adewole Ajakaiye, who deployed a detachment of riot policemen.
When firefighters from the State Fire Service arrived the scene, they, out of fear of being attacked, pumped water into the premises from outside the high fence with the aid of a ladder.
As at 3pm, our correspondent observed thick, black smoke still rising from two different parts of the prisons.
The prisons authorities later succeeded in evacuating the inmates in four trucks under tight security.
Some of the evacuated inmates were smeared with blood.
Three of the injured prison officers were rushed to an undisclosed hospital in the full glare of journalists and onlookers.
Witnesses said the aggrieved inmates attacked officers at the records office, hoping to destroy their warrants.
Residents of the area claimed that several gunshots were heard from the prisons, but Fatinikun said they were teargas canisters.
Few minutes after the evacuation, a vehicle belonging to the Lagos State Ambulance Service arrived the scene apparently to convey the remains of the dead.
The ambulance marked LA 116 AO was parked at the entrance of the prisons while members of the medical team and some prisons officials were seen wearing hand gloves immediately the vehicle was opened.
As the medical crew got set for business, Fatinikun approached journalists who were watching events from a safe distance and ordered them and others to leave.
When it became obvious that onlookers were not ready to leave, about three trucks were used to shield the ambulance from the public's prying eyes.
The Ikoyi prisons were built for 800 inmates but they currently harbour 2,000.
THE PUNCH, Wednesday, September 21