Following the shooting of a hoodlum by prison escort officials, hoodlums reportedly laid siege at a High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos State.
It was gathered by Premium Times that the hoodlums caused a scene, which forced the judges to end proceedings abruptly and other court officials scampered to safety. An eyewitness account says that the victim ignored several warnings by the prison escort officials after he allegedly tried to interact with some of the inmates in the ‘Black Maria’.
According to a statement issued by the spokesperson for the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS), Rotimi Oladokun, he said an inmate was brought before the court for a hearing when some suspected associates “staged an attack on the escort personnel in an attempt to forcefully release the inmate while at the premises of the court.”
“However, the quick response and vigilance of the NCoS court escorts thwarted their effort,” he said
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Mr Oladokun said one of the attackers sustained bullet injuries during the incident.
“During the ensuing melee one of the attackers was shot while trying to dispossess armed personnel of his rifle,” he said.
Mr Oladokun added that security operatives were immediately deployed to the court premises to prevent a breakdown of law and order, adding that “all inmates have been successfully returned into secure custody of the Correctional Service.”
This newspaper gathered that after the victim was shot on the leg, information got to the hoodlums, who swiftly came to barricade the entrance of the court and deflated the tyres of the ‘Black Maria’.
