From Dan Amasingha, Minna & Laide Akinboade, Abuja

About 100 inmates escaped from the old Suleja Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) in Suleja Local Government Area of Niger State following a rainstorm that destroyed part of the facility on Wednesday night.

Sources in Suleja hinted that a storm accompanied by heavy rain which started around 9:00pm destroyed parts of the old custodial centre leading to the escape of about 100 inmates from the facility.

It was gathered that the destruction exposed the inner fence of the facility that hitherto fortified one of the cells holding inmates.

A combined team of security agents has been drafted to strategic outlets and black spots of Suleja town to arrest the fleeing inmates.

Daily Asset gathered that the security personnel shot sporadically to scare the fleeing inmates out of their hideouts.

A resident of Suleja town said, “We helped to arrest three of the inmates and handed them over to the prison authorities.”

The source also disclosed that the inmates, who had overpowered the men guarding the facility, escaped towards different directions, making it difficult for the security men to trail them.

Unofficial sources said the manhunt for the fleeing inmates has started yielding positive results as more inmates have been re arrested at some exit points of the state.

Meanwhile, security is been beefed up along Minna-Suleja and Suleja-Kaduna roads, including Madalla axis to Abuja road.

Attempts to get the reaction of the State Comptroller of Prisons proved abortive at press time.

Spokesman of the Federal Capital Territory Command of NCoS, Adamu Duza reacted to the incident yesterday.

He said, “A heavy downpour that lasted for several hours on the night of Wednesday, 24 April 2024 has wreaked havoc on the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Suleja, Niger State, as well as surrounding buildings, destroying part of the custodial facility, including its perimeter fence, giving way to the escape of a total of 118 inmates of the facility.”

According to him, the service has immediately activated its recapturing mechanisms, and in conjunction with sister security agencies has so far recaptured 10 fleeing inmates and taken them into custody, while still in a hot chase to recapture the rest.

Duza said the service is not unmindful of the fact that many of its facilities were built during the colonial era and that they are old and weak, adding that the service is making frantic efforts to see that all ageing facilities give way to modern ones.

“This is evidenced in the ongoing construction of six number of 3000-capacity ultra-modern custodial centres in all the geo-political zones in Nigeria as well as the ongoing reconstruction and renovation of existing ones.

“The service wishes to assure the public that it is on top of the situation and that they should go about their businesses without fear or hindrance.

“The public is further enjoined to look out for the fleeing inmates and report any suspicious movement to the nearest security agency,” said the spokesperson.

The Suleja Prison was built during the colonial era, prior to the Nigeria’s independence from Britain in 1960.

It was designed to hold a maximum of 250 inmates but currently it holds nearly 500 inmates.

From Anthony Nwachukwu, Lagos

Angered by his alleged role in the ongoing crisis in the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), the National Executive Council (NEC) and Board of Trustees (BoT) of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) have expelled the association’s former General Secretary, Mr.

Olayoku, who was also NAGAFF’s representative at the National Working Committee (NWC) of the NNPP – a party which the association is its parent body, was further declared persona non grata by the joint session of NAGAFF NEC and BoT.

In a statement, the Chairman of NAGAFF BoT, Mazi Chidiebere Enelama said, “Mr.

“NAGAFF regrets to note that Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso may have allowed himself to be deceived by Mr. Dipo Olayoku, hence his audacity to change the flag, logo and mutilate the constitution of the party in an illegal convention.

“It is our hope that Sen. Kwankwaso’s lawyers would be able to tell him the legal implications. This is outright stealing and conversion.

“We the members of NAGAFF and our founder, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam – the original owners of the New Nigeria People’s Party, which certificate of registration is in our custody, hereby direct Sen. Kwankwaso to sack Mr. Dipo Olayoku with immediate effect for anti-party activities and gross misconduct.”

NAGAFF welcomed the recent judgment of an Abuja Federal High Court, which ruled issues in the party as “internal crisis.”

However, it urged the court “to make a clear decision in line with the constitution of the party to resolve same.”

It insisted that with the presence of Olayoku in the party, it should be commonsense to Kwankwaso and Buba Galadima that peace talk was not possible.

Founder of NAGAFF and NNPP, Dr. Aniebonam, had in a recent media conference accused Kwankwaso and his minders of attempting to hijack the party through an illegal convention, redesignation of the party’s logo and alteration of its constitution.

Stating that he had entered the “arena” after a long wait for reason and conscience to prevail, Aniebonam said it was “disturbing, and if I continue to keep quiet, it will not be in the interest of the soul of the party as the founder and, at some point, its board chairman.”

Aniebonam explained that he single-handedly founded and funded the NNPP for decades before the election, “and Kwankwaso wants to hijack it even when he is not a member of the board of the trustees or leader of the party.

 “The party’s constitution says the founder is a life-member of the board, and even when I’m alive, my brother and good friend, Kwankwaso, for whatever reasons, is destroying the party I built from 2002 to 2022 when he joined us to contest the 2023 presidency.”

Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake has described Nigeria as Africa’s choice mining investment destination to Australian investors.

He said that was due to its incentives and policies designed to promote ease of doing business in the sector.

Alake made this statement while virtually making his address at the Nigeria-Australia Investment Roundtable meeting.

This is contained in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Segun Tomori, on Thursday in Abuja.

Investors in the mining sector in Nigeria are granted a tax holiday of three to five years, deferred royalty payments, and exemption from customs and import duties for their equipment, among other benefits.

He urged the community of investors to consider Nigeria highly as their investment destination, especially with the commitment of President Bola Tinubu’s administration to removing impediments to the ease of doing business.

“Australians seeking to expand their mining portfolio to Africa should prioritise Nigeria in view of our positive investment friendly policies and ongoing rapid transformation.

“Many of the heavy equipment imported for mining can be evaluated to qualify for tax waivers and exemption from import duties.

“Nigeria also has a favourable funds and capital repatriation policy that ensures investors’ funds are not trapped,” he said.

According to the minister, plans have reached an advanced stage for the establishment of a private sector-led Nigerian Solid Minerals Corporation.

He said that the corporation was  poised for joint ventures with investors on critical minerals such as Lithium, Gold, Baryte, Lead, and Iron-ore.

The minister intimated the Australian investors on efforts to combat illegal mining and insecurity around mining areas, particularly through the establishment of the Mining Marshal Corps, which currently has 2,220 personnel.

He said that out of them, a 60-man rapid response squad has been specially trained and deployed across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.

“Illegal mining is not just unlicensed mining. It covers licensed miners operating with invalid licenses or licensed miners operating outside their coordinates or mining minerals not approved in their licenses.

“The specialised mining marshals have in the little time of operations, discouraged illegal mining, brought relief to recognised miners.

“And are clamping down on those involved in nefarious activities around mining areas across the country,” he said.

On strengthening regulatory frameworks, the minister said that 1,633 titles were revoked in 2023 due to default in payment of annual service fees, and punitive measures have been extended to other categories of defaulters.

He explained that the action was aimed at tackling indiscriminate speculation, licence racketeering, and the menace of those who obtained licences over the years but have refused to move to site.

The minister on Wednesday also revoked 924 dormant licences spanning across exploration, mining leases and small scale licenses. NAN