Abimbola Oyeyemi, who is the Police Public Relations Officer in Ogun, confirmed the arrest of the inmate in a statement on Wednesday in Abeokuta, the state capital.

He identified the inmate as 28-year-old Yakubu Abdul Mumuni.

According to Oyeyemi, the escapee was arrested following information received by policemen at Sango Ota Divisional Headquarters that the convict was sighted somewhere around the area.

“Upon the information, the Divisional Police Officer, Sango Ota Division, Superintendent of Police Saleh Dahiru, quickly mobilised his men and moved to the area where the convict was apprehended,” he narrated.

The suspect is said to have confessed to the police that he escaped from the correctional centre in Kuje on Tuesday last week when the facility was attacked by terrorists.

“He (the escapee) stated further that he was convicted by the Kogi State High Court for the offence of Conspiracy and Culpable Homicide and sent to Kuje correctional centre,” the command’s spokesman said.

He added that the Commissioner of Police in Ogun, Lanre Bankole, has ordered the State Criminal Investigation Department to facilitate the transfer of the convict to the correctional centre with immediate effect.

The terrorists and the other criminals were among those who escaped when a terrorist group, the Islamic State of West African Province , bombed the Kuje Correctional Centre on Tuesday night.

As of press time, it was learnt that the details of most of the escapees had already been uploaded.

The Spokesman, Nigeria Correctional Service, Umar Abubakar, disclosed that the names, pictures and other data of the inmates have been circulated to other security agencies.

When asked if the NCoS has dispatched the data of the terrorists to Interpol, Abubakar said, “They are working on it; the ones they uploaded are not too clear to my liking and the management’s liking. Hopefully, they should be through tonight.

“Yes, we have access to the (Interpol) database. Every inmate or suspect that is brought to our facility, we photograph him and have the details about him before it goes to our database.

“They are trying to upload it and work on it so we can have the details of the offences committed and have the next-of-kin and take appropriate actions.”

Asked if the service had alerted other security agencies to look out for the fleeing inmates, Abubakar stated, “Yes, we have sent the list to other security agencies but the issue is that we want to upload the information with their pictures captured for easy identification by this night (Thursday) or earliest tomorrow morning (Friday); by 8am, we should be through.”

Checks by one of our correspondents showed that the reconstruction of the bombed Kuje prison began on Thursday.

A senior officer disclosed that the walls are being fortified as directed by the government.

Responding to claims that there were no close circuit cameras at the facility, a senior officer who spoke on condition of anonymity dismissed it as untrue.

He stated, “The prison has CCTVs, it is just that the cameras do not cover as far as the gate where the soldiers are. But within the walls, there is CCTV. The pictures of the fleeing inmates have been sent to Interpol.”

It was learnt that Mustapha Umar, a man who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison by a Federal High Court in 2013 for bombing the Kaduna office of ThisDay newspapers is among the 60 Boko Haram members that escaped when terrorists attacked the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja on Tuesday, The PUNCH has learnt.

Justice Adeniyi Ademola had ordered that Mustapha spend the rest of his life in jail for bombing the office of ThisDay using 12 camp gas cylinders in 2012. A list of the fleeing inmates showed that some suspected Boko Haram members currently standing trial are among the fleeing inmates.

Yasir Salihu aka Dan Birni, an avowed Boko Haram member who confessed to killing influential Kaduna cleric, Sheikh Auwal Albani, on the order of the late Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, is also among those who escaped. Also on the list is Kyari Goni, a former commander from Shekau’s faction who willingly surrendered to the military.

Others on the list are: Shehu Abdullahi, Suleiman Idi, Suleiman Zacharia, Yakubu Abdullahi, Yasir Salihu, Yunusa Mukaiya, Bello Haruna, Biliyaminu Usman, Sunday Michael, Bello Haruna, Bilyaminu Usman, Bukar Ali, Ibrahim Mohammed, Ikya Abur, Ismail Abdullahi, Modu Aji, Mohammed Sani, Musa Abubakar, Fannami Bukar, Faruku Waziri, Hassan Hassan, Ibrahim Musa, Idris Ojo and Ishaq Farouq

Mohammed Guja, Mohammed Buba, Abdulmannan Obadiki, Abubakar Musa, Abubakar Umar, Adamu Mohammed, Ahmadu Hagola, Asama Kanti, Baluye Modu, Bassey Kingsley, Diko Iko, Abdulkareem Musa, Andulsalami Adamu, Abubakar Habibu, Abubhakar Sadiq, and Abubakar Mohammed were also listed.

Also, it was learnt that the process of uploading the data of 60 escaped terrorists and other criminals to the International Criminal Police Organisation database had begun.

The Spokesman, Nigeria Correctional Service, Umar Abubakar, disclosed that the names, pictures and other data of the inmates havd been circulated to other security agencies.

When asked if the NCoS has dispatched the data of the terrorists to Interpol, Abubakar said, “They are working on it; the ones they uploaded are not too clear to my liking and the management’s liking. Hopefully, they should be through tonight.

“Yes, we have access to the (Interpol) database. Every inmate or suspect that is brought to our facility, we photograph him and have the details about him before it goes to our database.

Checks by one of our correspondents showed that the reconstruction of the bombed facility began on Thursday.

A senior officer disclosed that the walls are being fortified as directed by the government.

Responding to claims that there were no close circuit cameras at the facility, a senior officer who spoke on condition of anonymity dismissed it as untrue.

He stated, “The prison has CCTVs, it is just that the cameras do not cover as far as the gate where the soldiers are. But within the walls, there is CCTV. The pictures of the fleeing inmates have been sent to Interpol.”

Meanwhile, the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, says an alert has been sent to all checkpoints across the country even officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service had been put on notice.

In a statement on Thursday, Aregbesola admitted that correctional centres across the country could only contain internal attacks but cannot withstand external force.

The President stated this on Wednesday while speaking to journalists during his visit to the correctional facility which came under attack by terrorists last night.

A statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, quoted Buhari as saying, “I am disappointed with the intelligence system.”

“How can terrorists organise, have weapons, attack a security installation and get away with it?”

Soon after he arrived at the facility, the President was briefed about the attack by the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Interior, Dr Shuaib Belgore, and the Controller General of Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), Haliru Nababa.

Both men showed President Buhari the bombed-out section and the records office, which was set on fire, adding that the invaders thereafter launched an attack on all cells in which Boko Haram terrorists were held.

He was also apprised that, at the end of the attack, none of the 63 terrorists were accounted for, but the records were not lost because they had been backed up.

The President was also informed that the security forces have recaptured 350 of the escapees while about 450 others were still unaccounted for, and that rapid work was underway to recapture them.

According to Shehu, President Buhari, like most Nigerians, was shocked by both the scale and audacity of the attack.

“How did the defences at the prison fail to prevent the attack?” the President queried. “How many inmates were in the facility? How many of them can you account for?

“How many personnel did you have on duty? How many of them were armed? Were there guards on the watchtower? What did they do? Does the CCTV work?”

Buhari said he was expecting “a comprehensive report” on the incident at the end of the visit.

The road leading to the correctional centre situated opposite the Police Command Headquarters was barricaded with an iron bar when our correspondent visited the facility, Wednesday afternoon.

It was observed that vehicles plying the road were only allowed to pass after a thorough search by security operatives manning the checkpoint.

Some armed operatives from the Department of the State Security Service and other security agents were seen patrolling the premises of the prison whose roofs were yet to be replaced after they were removed some months ago for repairs.

Efforts to get across to the spokesman for the Plateau State Command of the Nigeria Correctional Service were unsuccessful.

However, a senior official of the service said they were not taking the security breach at the Kuje for granted.

The source said, “What do you expect us to do if not to step up security in this place?

You know that the attack on Kuje prison is a daring one by those who perpetrated it. Nigerians are talking about it and we are not taking it for granted because we don’t want what happened in Kuje to happen here again at the Jos Correctional Centre.

“I’m sure other prison facilities across the country may have taken extra measures to safeguard their facilities too. Moreover, you are aware that a similar attack happened here at the Jos Correctional Centre recently in November last year where over 200 inmates also escaped while others died during the attack by gunmen.

“I know that after the attack, a search team was put in place to recapture the fleeing inmates but I’m not sure if all of them have been recaptured up till now. So, if you see an unusual security presence around Jos Correctional Centre, especially given the security challenge we are facing at the moment, you can understand why we are doing what we are doing.”

The Spokesman for the Plateau State Police Command, Alabo Alfred, also said that the command was leaving no stone unturned to ensure adequate security in the state.

“The Commissioner of Police does that (deployment of personnel) every time to protect the headquarters and other facilities from coming under attack. If you see additional deployment of police personnel to the command headquarters or elsewhere, maybe the attack on Kuje prison is just a pointer to what we have been doing because it is a normal routine for the CP to ensure the security of lives and property in the state,” The PPRO added