Three inmates and officials of the Nigerian Correctional facility located in Aba, the commercial nerve of Abia, have been hospitalized following an attempted break by prisoners.

It was learnt the incident caused pandemonium in the yard as some of the prisoners and warders scampered for safety.

It was learnt it took a combined team of the officers of the facility in the arms department and police personnel from the Aba Central Police Station (CPS) under Aba Area Command of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to forestall the prisoners from carrying out an attempted prison break.

It was also gathered that about three prisoners sustained gunshot wounds while other personnel of the prison service sustained various degrees of wounds.

It was learnt the prisoners and warders are on admission at the Federal Medical Center (FMC), Umuahia where they are receiving medical attention.

“You recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had asked the Chief Justice of the Federation to ensure that prison inmates who have been awaiting trial for six years or more should be freed in order to decongest the already overcrowded prison cells and to further stop the spread of the novel coronavirus in the yards across the country.

“From what we gathered, instead of releasing all the inmates that the presidential order affected, they released some while others were awaiting any further action by the authorities of Nigerian Prisons and office of the Attorney-General and Chief Judge of the State.

“When they ran out of patience, after having waited for further actions from the Prison and Abia State Chief Judge, they now took to protest.

“From what we gathered, the protest took the warders unawares as some of the inmates serving several jail terms nearly took advantage of the situation to escape from the facility. They were, however, repelled by the arms department officials who resisted.

“They were firing shots. We learnt that three of the prisoners sustained bullet injuries in the melee, while some of the prisoners injured some of the prison officials who had earlier tried to stop those that want to take advantage of the protest to escape.

“Their protest wasn’t about any maltreatment by officials of the facility, but because of the number of the people that were supposed to be released in Aba prison isn’t what they released.

“The prisoners who were chanting “We want to go!!!… during the protest, queried why 10 persons will be released from the facility in Aba, unlike what was obtained in other correctional facilities across the country where a good number of inmates on awaiting trials were released from detention.

“The protest, I guess is to draw the attention of the world and President Muhammadu Buhari to the non-implementation of his orders by the Aba and Abia Prison authorities,” a resident around the Aba prison who pleaded anonymity narrated.

The Nation learnt instead of releasing about 100 inmates reportedly affected by the Presidential directives, only 10 inmates were freed from the Aba facility, a situation that reportedly sparked the protest.

Attempts to reach the spokesman of the Nigerian Prison, Abia State, Linus Ikpe, a Deputy Superintendent of Prison (DSP), failed.

He neither picked his calls or responded to several WhatsApp chats.

Governors of South East region under the aegis of South East Governors Forum have expressed displeasure over the movement of almajiris into the region, usually concealed in food and cement trucks, warning that they will no longer tolerate it as a measure to curtail the spread of coronavirus among Ndigbo.

The forum while appealing to community leaders to get involved and ensure that strangers are not allowed into their domains also resolved to strengthen internal security to protect farmlands in the region to boost participation in agriculture.

In a communique made available to ABN TV and signed by the Ebonyi State governor, Dave Umahi after the first teleconference meeting of the Forum, the governors also resolved to strengthen the existing interstate restriction of movements, expressing dismay over the compromise of the exercise whereby non essential items still move within state in the region.

They therefore tasked security agencies to take the task more seriously as a measure to ensure the coronavirus is not spread in the region.

The meeting which had in attendance some Igbo leaders also expressed gratitude to Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID program) led by Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Dr Godwin Emefiele (CBN Governor) for furnishing isolation centres in the States while NNPC has chosen to build isolation centres in Enugu and Imo States.

“The Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID program) led by Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Dr Godwin Emefiele (CBN Governor) is furnishing isolation centres in the States while NNPC has chosen to build isolation centres in Enugu and Imo States. For these, we commend them all. CACOVID have also started the distribution of food items like 10kg bags of rice, tomatoes and some other food items with the plan to reach at least 10% population of every State in Nigeria. We also wish to appreciate the team for their gesture.

“The Forum reviewed the current lockdown order within our interstate borders and agreed to strengthen it further with new measures. However, we are very unhappy with incidents of interstate border lockdown abuses that led to the movement of non-essential movement of persons. We request the security personnel at our border posts to take this task very seriously to curtail the spreading of the pandemic. As we go through this period, to curtail the further spread of COVID-19, we will continue to enforce the NO MASK NO MOVEMENT, social distancing, regular hand washing and sanitary guidelines.

“The Southeast Governors are worried about the movement of almajiri youths concealed in food and cement trucks into the southeast region. While we commend northern governors on their decision that almajiris should go to their States of origin, we also advise our people against coming back to their States to forestall further spread of the pandemic. We, therefore, request our community leaders to get passionately involved to ensure that such illegal movement is not allowed. Seriously, SouthEast Governors will further strengthen our local security to protect farmlands and agriculture activities to encourage more participation in agriculture.

“We encourage our youths to key into agriculture programs in the States as this would keep them busy and sustain the livelihood of lots of our people. Our youths should take advantage of the CBN agric intervention programs which are currently available. They can make contacts with their State’s ministry of agriculture on how to get involved, as this is utmost important now.

“SouthEast Governors and leaders agreed to embark on massive testing of her people with a target of at least 5% of the population in the five States within the next two months. We are happy to announce that Imo State Government now have two testing centres while Enugu State Government will soon complete the setting up of a centre in Enugu. Anambra and Abia are working on this while Ebonyi has been fruitful since February, 2020 With these, we can vigorously pursue a wider number of test among our communities.

“Forum also discussed a regional approach to a post-COVID-19 era. This proposed strategic planning will provide support for vital areas that we will be considering. Some of the areas we hope to prioritise are education, health agriculture, SMEs among others. The program will stimulate our regional economy.

“While we continue to provide palliatives in our various States to our people. We urge our people to continue with precautionary measures as provided by NCDC and be rest assured of the governors’ determination to continue to protect lives and support.

“The forum noted the progress made so far on the rehabilitation project of Akanu Ibiam International airport. We thank Mr President for providing the enabling environment in the achievement of this project. We likewise commend the Honourable minister for aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika for his commitments. We appreciate the committee on the rehabilitation of Akanu Ibiam International airport, especially the committee chairman Engr. Chris Okoye who have worked tirelessly to see to the current achievement so far. The runway reconstruction and other newly added facilities are almost completed. We deeply appreciate the Governor of Enugu State His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi for all the interventions he has always provided to enable this project to come this far. We are optimistic that Enugu airport will open when the nation’s airspace will be re-opened to regular flights.

“The Forum wishes to congratulate the newly appointed Chief of staff to Mr President, Amb. Ibrahim Agboola Gambari. We wish him the best as he resumes his new position” the communique concluded.