The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has assured that all escapee inmates of various custodial centres will be re-arrested and returned to custody
According to him; “They can only run, they cannot hide; they are like the trapped mouse and we will get them”.
Aregbesola, who was fielding questions at the flagship interview programme of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), “NAN Forum” in Abuja on Sunday said; “They will open bank accounts; they will have telephone numbers; they are just deceiving themselves; they will be caught.
“They are like a trapped mouse. Where is a trapped mouse going? If you release the rope used to trap the mouse, you are just entertaining yourself, later you’d retrieve the rope and bring the mouse home. They are trapped as far as I am concerned”.
Admitting the process of recapturing the fugitives was slow, the Minister assured that they would be re-arrested all the same, no matter how long it took, adding; “Government is not giving up; government is the most difficult institution to offend; it has long insatiable memories.
“I have read about criminals or suspects who ran away from justice forever or even died as fugitives, but ultimately found out when the DNA of their bones were assessed and analysed.”
He further said; “Government is a patient institution; we have done what we should do; there is nobody today in our custodial facility without all the biometrics registered; none. All inmates, either as awaiting-trial persons or as convicts in our custodial facilities are registered in our database or have their biometrics in the database.
“To the extent that that is done, unless that person does not exist as a human being, it is a question of time before we get them; that is the assurance I want to give Nigerians”.
For Ogbeni Aregbesola, the Interior Ministry was collaborating with relevant security agencies and other ministries to ensure the arrest of the fugitives, adding; “We need the cooperation of all the other agencies; the cooperation of other operators in the system to help us.
“We have circulated the biometrics of the fugitives to every relevant organisation that could help us use the data to apprehend them and we are not relenting. I am meeting with the Minister of Finance on some things to do with that because we need to work directly with that ministry and some of its agencies.
“I am also meeting with the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy since some of its agencies are well-positioned to accelerate the process of re-arrest. The truth is, having registered the biometrics of all inmates and the fugitives, the escapees can only run, they can never hide”.
While explaining that the process of re-arresting the criminals might take a long time, the Minister stressed that as long as the escapees functioned as human beings, they would be recaptured.
He said the only sure thing is that all those who escaped from custodial centres, including the July 5, 2022 jailbreak at the Kuje Custodial Centre in the FCT would all be brought back to serve their terms in prison.
Ogbeni Aregbesola maintained that; “Sad as the jailbreak and the escape were, the escapees can only survive to the extent of living outside human communities.”. – NAN
