Prison Break: Kuje Prison Boss Transferred, Investigation Launched

Mr. Musa Tanko, the head of Kuje Prison has been transferred on the order of

controller-general of prisons, Mr. Ahmed Jafa‘aru after two inmates escaped on
Friday, June 17, 2016.
Mr. Tanko will be investigated by officers from the Federal Capital Territory
Command of the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) over the escape, according to
Punch .
The escapees, Maxwell Ajukwu and Solomon Amodu, were standing trial for
murder, but managed to escape by scaling the fence enclosing the prison. At
the time of publication, the two remain at large.
According to one source, “For now, only the officer in charge [Mr. Tanko] has
been transferred out of the prisons, but we don’t know if other senior officers
like the yard master and the officer on duty would also be redeployed out of
Kuje prisons. For now, everyone is waiting with bated breath to see the next
line of action by the authorities.”
If Mr. Tanko and others are indicted for the escape, they will face more serious
sanctions than redeployment, according to NPS Public Relations Officer Francis
Enobore.
“The management of the prisons service is taking the matter seriously, and any
indicted officer will be severely punished, so transfer cannot be the punishment
for the escape of inmates,” Mr. Enobore said.
He added that the investigations are ongoing and that appropriate sanctions
would not be imposed until Minister of Interior Abdurahaman Dambazzau
reviews the investigators’ report on the matter.