No fewer than 119 inmates have escaped from the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Suleja, in Niger State after a rainstorm damaged part of the facility late Wednesday but 13 of them have been recaptured, officials say.

The Deputy Superintendent of Corrections Command Public Relations Officer, FCT Command, AS Duza, said in a statement on Thursday that “a heavy downpour that lasted for several hours on the night of Wednesday, 24 April 2024 has wreaked havoc on the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Suleja, Niger State, as well as surrounding buildings, destroying a part of the custodial facility, including its perimeter fence, giving way to the escape of a total of one hundred and nineteen (119) inmates of the facility.

“The Service has immediately activated its recapturing mechanisms, and in conjunction with sister security agencies have so far recaptured 10 fleeing inmates and taken them into custody, while we are in hot chase to recapture the rest,” he said.

He explained that the facility was built during the colonial era and is  now weak but added that efforts are on to modernize the facility structurally.

“This is evidenced in the ongoing construction of six (6) number of 3000-capacity ultra-modern custodial centres in all the geo-political zones in Nigeria as well as the ongoing reconstruction and renovation of existing ones,” he said, asking the public to provide information and report “any suspicious movement to the nearest security agency”.

Witnesses said that the heavy rain damaged parts of the building and exposed the facility’s inner fence which served as wall of one of the cells where inmates were kept. This led to mass jail break as inmates scampered out of the facility into the vicinity.