Two awaiting trial inmates have escaped from Federal Prison in Kabba-Bunu Local Government Area of Kogi State.
It was gathered that the inmates escaped when they were taken out of the prison yard to clear bushes.
A source said the inmates who were awaiting trial over criminal offences, are yet to be re-arrested.
Comptroller of Prisons in Kogi State, Adams Omale, confirmed the development, saying the inmates made, “a bold escape while clearing bushes around the perimeter fencing of the prison yard”.
The comptroller added that it would have been foolhardy for the prison officials to abandon the remaining inmates to go after the fleeing inmates. He said instead, the officials quickly mobilised to secure the remaining inmates.
He dismissed insinuations that the inmates were working on a farm, adding that hard labour has since been abolished in Nigerian prisons and that modern prisons are meant to reform, rather than punish convicts.
Omale said the prison officials would have to intimate the courts about the escape of the awaiting trial inmates,
He added that the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) authorities have been informed and that investigation has commenced.
