• Prison Service says Charles Okah not involved

From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja

THE Nigeria Prisons Ser­vice (NPS) has confirmed that though there was a jail­break at the Kuje Medium Prison in Abuja on Friday night, Charles, the younger brother to Henry Okah, who is facing trial over his alleged involvement in the Abuja 2010 Independence Day bombing that killed 27 people, was not among the inmates that reportedly es­caped.

There was wide specu­lation that the Kuje Prison management had declared massive manhunt to find and re-arrest the younger Okah of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) who alleg­edly escaped on Friday night with another prison inmate after scaling the high prison walls around 7:30pm.

Reacting to the report, the Public Relations Officer of the Service, Francis Eno­bore dismissed the rumour of Okah’s escape in a press statement, insisting that he is still in their custody.

While confirming that there was a jailbreak at the prison on Friday night, the spokesperson of the service said: “Yes there was an in­cident on Friday at our Kuje Medium Prison, but Okah was not involved.

“It is not true that Okah has escaped from our cus­tody, Charles Okah is still in custody. I have been in touch with our men in the prison facility and I can confirm to you that there is nothing like Okah escaping,” Enobore said.

Giving further informa­tion about the incident, Enobore revealed that the newly decorated Control­ler General of Prison has immediately ordered a thorough investigation into the circumstances that led to the escape of two inmates.

According to him; the in­mates were awaiting trial for culpable homicide and had no relationship with Charles Okah.

“Efforts are on in collabora­tion with sister security agen­cies and relevant bodies to re­capture the fleeing prisoners,” Enobore added.