The Minister of Interior, Alhaji Rauf Aregbesola, has ordered officials of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) to shoot dead anyone who attempts to attack any prison facility across the country.
Noting that a correctional (prison) facility is a red zone, Aregbesola said anyone who attempts to attack it is dead and should not be left alive to tell the story.
He gave the directive, on Monday, while addressing senior officers at the Agodi Custodial Centre of the NCoS, in Ibadan, Oyo State, during an official inspection tour of the facility.
The minister asserted that the officers must make it impossible for any attack to penetrate the facility, saying such an attempt must remain an attempt.
He stated that the attacks on the custodial centers are not acceptable and must stop, adding that any attempt must henceforth be resisted with brutal force.
Aregbesola said: “The most important thing is the security impregnability of this facility. This is a red zone, a dangerous zone. Whoever attempts to breach the facility is already dead. He must not live to tell the story.
“Any effort to breach our facility is not acceptable. Don’t shoot to injure but shoot to kill for any reason. This is a total embodiment of the state to guarantee the security of the people,” the minister affirmed.
While commending the officers for not recording any case of Covid-19 in the facility, Aregbesola assured that the government would do its best in ensuring that their welfare is top priority, as a way of ensuring effective service delivery.
The minister noted: “You must be effective in preventing the penetration of this facility. You must have the capacity to repel viciously any attempt to attack or invade this facility and an attempt must remain an attempt.”
Based on the ongoing facility tour, Aregbesola has ordered the demolition of shops and business centers withing and around the prison facility.
He is expected to also tour the newly built medium facility at Olomi-Olunde area of Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.
