Prison attack: We no longer feel safe — Jos residents

Residents living around Jos Custodial Centre have expressed worry about their safety following the Sunday attack on the centre by gunmen. 

It would be recalled that on November 28, residents of the communities surrounding Jos prison including;  Jenta Adamu, Jenta Mangoro, Kabong, Tudun Wada, Angwan Suya and West of mines, were thrown into confusion when attackers invaded the prison and started shooting sporadically. 

Benue/Plateau Trust reports that the attackers succeeded in penetrating into the Custodial Centre, broke into all the cells and freed hundreds of inmates. 

According to the spokesman for the prison, Geoffrey Longdiem, 11 people, including a personnel of the prison and one of the attackers, were killed during the attack, adding that 252 inmates including the attackers escaped after the incident. 

The attack however had generated a lot of fears and resentments in the minds of residents of the communities around the prison area. 

Yakubu Busari, a resident of Jenta Adamu, told our correspondent that when the attackers stormed the prison, “There was pandemonium in the area. People started looking for where to take cover as the shooting was heard from many angles’’. 

Reverend Bature Israel, who is also a resident of the area, said: “Really, it was an unfortunate incident because this wasn’t expected. When the gunshots were everywhere, we all started crawling because people could not understand why the gunshots. We didn’t know where it started and how it was going to end. It was a terrible experience. 

A youth leader of one the community and resident of Jenta Mangoro, Tongs Ishaya, on his part said: “I am feeling insecure because I wonder how gunmen would attack that prison and went freely. We have not heard that any of these attackers was arrested or killed. 

Residents of the affected communities have expressed wonder how the attackers successfully carried out the attackers despite  the presence of security outfits surrounding the prison. 

The residents explained that the prison was surrounded by many security outfits, including Police Area Command, the police barracks, the Police ‘A’ Division, the Plateau Police Headquarters, the Operation Safe Haven Headquarters and the DSS Plateau Command, saying it was surprising that in spite of these securities, the attackers would penetrate into the prison and escaped. 

The residents, however, said though they were still in fear of the unknown, they had no other place to go adding that if such attacks could be carried in the city, there was no need to relocate to villages where there was little or no adequate security presence. 

They called on the government to rise up to the occasion to ensure the security of lives and property of the Nigerians.