#EndSARS: Hoodlums break two prisons, attack three police stations in Benin

The violence that has characterised the #EndSARS protest in Benin, on Monday, assumed a monstrous proportion as hoodlums, believed to be ex-inmates of the Oko, Airport Road Correctional Service facility, otherwise known as Oko Minimum Prison, attacked the facility and freed inmates therein.

Tribune Online gathered that while the facility was under attack, all the security agencies contacted via distress calls failed to respond.

The hoodlums who carried out the attack were said to be armed with AK47 and cut to size guns.

The walls of the prison were broken and used as escape routes by the inmates. The hoodlums did also not spare the vehicles of the Service and its personnel, as they set them ablaze.

Adjourning shops and business centres were equally attacked.

The attack on Oko Prison came a few hours after a similar attack was carried out on the Sapele Road Prisons, otherwise known as “White House”, where inmates were also set free by the hoodlums.

Tribune Online also gathered that nine inmates were killed at the Oko Prison,while trying to escape, while some undisclosed number of them were said to have escaped with gunshot injuries.

It was further gathered that only five armed guards were on duty at the facility, when the hoodlums struck and they were easily overpowered by the rampaging gang, who successfully freed the inmates before descending on the shops along the road, carting away goods and other valuables, unhindered.

The hoodlums had earlier in the day attacked both Ugbekun and Idogbo police stations in Upper Sokponba, Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area, and burnt the stations while the policemen there scampered for safety.

While the attacks on the Sapele Road prison and the two police stations lasted, it was gathered that security red flag was raised and the management of Oko Prison sufficiently alerted.

Unconfirmed reports indicated that distress calls made to sisters security agencies were unattended to, thus giving the hoodlums the space to visit unprecedented havoc on the facility.

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A Nigerian Correctional Service source, who pleaded anonymity, told journalists that the attacked Oko Prison, had about 120, out of the 1,500 inmates, condemned convicts before the attack.

“They came in their thousands and their mission was to free inmates. They have been communicating with the inmates because even before they broke into the facility, the inmates were already rioting inside the place,” the source volunteered.

Meanwhile, the hoodlums had also earlier extended their reign of violence to the popular Oba Market police station, where they attacked its armoury and went away with guns, ammunition and some quantity of police uniforms of various ranks.

The development has forced the Edo State Government to impose a 24-hour curfew across the state till further notice.