6 Face Panel Over Invasion Of Prison’s Farm

Six officials of Nigerian Prisons Service have been questioned over herdsmen invasion of Jato Aka Prisons Farm Centre in Benue.

The Public Relations Officer of the service in the State, ASP Stephen Nwanchor, in Makurdi on Tuesday that a panel had concluded sitting over the matter.

He said Tersoo Agidi, an inmate, was killed during the March 25 suspected herdsmen invasion of the Farm centre located on Jato-Aka/Kashimbila road.

Nwanchor said the five-man administrative panel was headed by the state Comptroller of Prisons, Peter Pevigo. “Pevigo was the head of the five man panel because of the seriousness of the matter.’’

He added that the panel had concluded its investigation and forwarded its report to Abuja on April 2.

“I want to say that because of the sensitive nature of the issue and for security reasons the names of the affected officers will be announced at the appropriate time.”

Nwanchor said the incident took place during a general clean up of the farm centre.

The PRO said out of the 15 inmates that escaped during the invasion, 11 were recaptured, with four still at large.

“We have evacuated the remaining inmates from the centre to Gboko, pending the outcome of the investigation.

“We are not taking anything for granted. We are on top of the situation and all relevant security operatives in the state have been notified.”

He said no arrest had so far been made.

Nwanchor said the service had tightened security in and around all its facilities in the state.

The farm centre was established by the service and started operation in January 2017.