Following the Tuesday night terrorists’ attack on the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Kuje, Abuja, President Muhammadu Buhari has scored the nation’s security intelligence system low, expressing disappointment with the Intelligence system.
Buhari, who inspected the scene of the attack on Wednesday, said, “I am disappointed with the intelligence system. How can terrorists organise, have weapons, attack a security installation and get away with it?”
Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, who stated this in a statement, said, “Soon after he (President Buhari) arrived, he was briefed about the attack by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Dr. Shuaib Mohammad Lamido Belgore and the Controller General of Nigerian Correctional Service, Haliru Nababa, showing him the bombed-out section used to access first, and the records office which was set on fire, adding that the invaders thereafter launched an attack on all cells in which Boko Haram terrorists were held.
“The President was apprised that, at the end of it, none of the 63 terrorists are accounted for, but it was emphasised that records are not lost because they have been backed up.”
Shehu, who quoted Buhari in the statement said that the President, like most Nigerians, was shocked by both the scale and audacity of the attack and queried: “How did the defences at the prison fail to prevent the attack? How many inmates were in the facility? How many of them can you account for? How many personnel did you have on duty? How many of them were armed? Were there guards on the watchtower? What did they do? Does the CCTV work?”
The presidential spokesman said Buhari was also informed that the security forces had recaptured 350 of the escapees while about 450 others were still unaccounted for, adding that rapid work was under way to recapture the remaining.
The statement added that President Buhari, who was in company with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha; and his Chief of Staff, Prof Ibrahim Gambari, stated at the end of the visit that he was expecting “a comprehensive report” on the incident.
On the mounting criticism of Buhari’s trip to Dakar, Senegal, he stressed that “Governments don’t stop working because nations face terrorist threats.
“To cancel the trip to Senegal would mean that the terrorists are successful in calling the shots, something that no responsible government in the world will allow.”