By Our Correspondent
A riot broke out today at the Federal Prison Warri in Delta State, but no escape was recorded.
Our Correspondent gathered that tension has been building up in the Prison since Monday, January 11,2016 over alleged high handedness by the officer incharge of the Prison, ASP Jude Okoro.
It was learnt that inmates of the Prison, including convicted, condemned and awaiting trials staged a peaceful protest against ASP Okoro, demanding that he must be transferred from the Prison, accusing him of extortion.
A reliable source told our Correspondent that; “The inmates at the Warri Prison have been complaining about lack of water, electricity, high handedness by ACP Okoro and that he was fond of carting away various items being donated to the inmates by charity organisations. They accused him of carting these items to Imo State where he comes from”.
The source added that; ” The inmates demanded to see him on Monday through the Prison keeper to register their grievances, but he refused to make himself available and on Wednesday, he slapped an inmate for fetching water in the yard, saying he was wasting his water and before he slapped the inmate, there has been tension in the Prison.”
Our source also disclosed that on Friday the inmates requested to see the Controller of Prison in the state and when he failed to acknowledge their demand, they boycotted the food served to them.
According to the source, ” On Saturday morning, the inmates embarked on a peaceful protest, but it resulted into the riot when the driver to ASP Okoro started using teargas on the inmates and as a result of this, the inmates destroyed the administrative building and some of their cells and now they are demanding that ASP Okoro must go.”
Our Correspondent reports that reinforcement by the Nigerian Army, the Warri Area Command of the Police and the Prison Warders brought the riotous situation under control.
Okere road where the Prison is located, according to our Correspondent, was closed to traffic while the Perimeter walls were taken over by fierce looking security operatives.
At the time of filing this report, there was no official statement from the Prison Authority in the state and efforts to speak with ASP Jude Okoro were not successful.
But it was learnt that no escape was recorded in the Warri Prison riot.
