How escaped prisoners took advantage of Ramadan fast

Fresh reports have shown how the two inmates of the Kuje Maximum Prison, Abuja, took advantage of the ongoing Ramadan fast to escaped on Friday night.

Two notorious kidnappers, Maxwell Ajukwu and Solomon Amodu, who abducted and killed a society lady, Mrs. Edith Chinedu Aliyu, escaped from the prison in a daring jailbreak while Muslim inmates were breaking their fast by scaling the high walls of the facility with a plank.

Initial reports had said the jailbreak had led to speculations that a leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, Charles Okah, had escaped from the prison, but the Prisons Public Relations Officer, Francis Enobore, had clarified that he is still in custody.

According to reports, Ajukwu, converted to Islam some weeks ago in an apparent attempt at exploiting the lax security system in the prisons during the Ramadan fast.

Read also: Okah’s whereabouts uncertain after Abuja jailbreak

A security source said: “The two kidnapping suspects escaped and left their colleague behind. What happened was that one of them, from the South-East, converted to Islam some weeks ago while in prison when he observed that the prison officers allowed Muslim inmates to stay late against standard prisons rules.

“Normally, the inmates are locked up in their cells by 5pm every day, but the prison authorities decided to extend the time till 8pm to enable the inmates break their fast and pray.

“Preliminary findings show that the two inmates escaped at a point near the chapel in the prisons, which was usually guarded by a prison officer, but he (the officer) did not come to work on Friday and nobody was posted to secure the place.”

Another source however blamed the jailbreak on a weakness in the security arrangement of the prison.

The source said: “Normally, inmates are not supposed to be outside beyond 6pm to 6.30pm daily. But the officer in charge of that prison, who takes money from the inmates, allows them stay till 9pm or 10pm.

“What happened was that some of the inmates, who had studied the lapses, decided to use them to plot their escape when it was dark. After they finished breaking their fast on Friday, they put up a ladder on the wall and jumped out. They had fled before the management noticed.”

The men are still at large.

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