Kayode Fatombi, a warder assigned to the Kirikiri Custodial Centre in Lagos State, has been arrested by police for allegedly assisting in the escape of several jail inmates.
According to News About Nigeria, three men were apprehended by police for alleged robbery and kidnapping.
They were then arraigned before the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja.
According to a source, two of the convicts fled when the warder led them out under the pretence of transporting them somewhere.
When the police learned about the situation, they hunted down the inmates and re-arrested them.
This is when they allegedly confessed to paying the warder N500,000 each.
The source said: “The warder is now at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba, and is expected to be charged on Monday.
He was attached to the Kirikiri custodial prison as a warder, and he took the inmates facing trial at the High Court for kidnapping and armed robbery out of the prison and allowed them to escape. He claimed that they ran away while he was leading them out. During the investigation, it was gathered that he purposely allowed them to escape, so he was arrested and kept at the SCID, Yaba.
The suspects were tracked and caught and they confessed that they gave him money to allow them to escape. The inmates confessed that they paid him N500,000 each.”
According to the source, the warder was fired and would be arraigned on Monday.
“He was led to the police office at the SCID on July 6 in handcuffs and leg chains,” he continued.
According to a reliable jail source, the incident occurred a few months ago, and the warder was apprehended in the middle of May 2023.
The insider also stated that two members of the three-man heist team escaped, with one remaining in jail.
“What the warder told his bosses was that he was taking the inmates back to prison after their court sitting at Ikeja when he was waylaid by a gang that freed two of the suspects.
“The prison service arrested him for a disciplinary procedure. This was ongoing when the warder consulted with someone in the police force and engaged him to track the escapees. He provided the necessary information that led to their re-arrest.
“When they were re-arrested, instead of briefing his bosses in the correctional service on the development, he kept the information to himself. He went to meet the police sometime in May and was arrested and detained.
“The information I have is that when the suspects were arrested, somebody told them who leaked out their details and because of that, they made a counter-allegation that the warder collected money from them. That was why the police detained him,” the source continued.
According to a source, the correctional service was not cooperating with the procedure because Fatombi’s pending internal trial had not been completed when he was apprehended by the police.
According to the source, the re-arrested detainees were also intended to be sent to the service, where they would be charged for a variety of offences, including escape from lawful custody.
“Even the warder has been in a police cell for about two months now. I gathered that the Lagos Controller has tried to talk to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police for possible inter-agency collaboration, but it has not worked,” the source added.
The event was confirmed by the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, who added that the warder would be arraigned this week.
He also mentioned that the correctional service was involved in the probe.
Hundeyin said, “I can confirm that he is in our custody and will be arraigned this week. He was arrested for aiding the escape of some inmates, two of whom have been re-arrested.”
Rotimi Oladokun, a spokesperson for the Nigeria Correctional Service, Lagos State Command, said an inquiry was underway.
In a WhatsApp text he wrote, “The command has commenced investigation into the issue and any officer found culpable will be appropriately sanctioned.”
