Guard Killed As Suspected Militants Attack Correctional Centre

By Ayodele Oni

While the present administration is doing everything possible to guard against attacks on prisons nationwide, gunmen suspected to be militants have attacked a Federal Correctional Centre Facility in Cross River State. They killed one person – a Guard.

The facility is located at Afokang while the deceased person was identified as a security guard attached to the facility.

Sources explained that the militants, who stormed the Prison from the nearby Calabar creeks, gunned down the guard and took away his

However, they were prevented from gaining access to the prison yard. They only operated at the main gate.

There was an earlier report that inmates of the facility were having problem with regards to their feeding, as there has been grumbling that the new State Comptroller, allegedly, rations food for the inmates.

The Comptroller was said to have summoned an emergency meeting with senior officers at the head office of the Correctional Centre opposite the Millennium Park, Calabar, over the prison attack.

A resident of the area, Godwin Esu, said, “The incident happened around 9 p.m. on Wednesday. We heard gunshots. We knew it came from the prison. Then there was a stampede. It was after those who shot had gone that we were told that an officer was killed.”

The Public Relations Officer of Cross River State Command of the Nigerian Correctional Service, DSC Effanga Etim, confirmed the incident.