By Ovie Okpare
There was pandemonium on Monday at the Okere Correctional Centre formerly called Okere Prisons in Warri, Delta State, when a downpour on destroyed the roofs of buildings housing hundreds of inmates.
The incident which occurred at about 4pm on Monday also destroyed a section the fence of the prisons.
It was gathered that an entire roof of one of the buildings was removed by the rain leaving many of inmates homeless.
Another building housing inmates and warders offices at the prisons was also partially torched.
The development led to the deployment of more security agencies to premises to prevent inmates from escaping from the centre.
A source at the Correction Centre confirmed the development to our correspondent on a condition of anonymity.
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“The rain accompanied by heavy winds destroyed the roof of the building causing the entire building to be flooded. Another building was also torched. The wall of the prisons was damaged. No inmate escaped from the facility”, an official of the correction centre told NIGER DELTA TODAY Online.
However, a source who witnessed the incident, told our correspondent that an unknown number of inmates allegedly absconded from the facility.
This medium, however, could not independently confirm the information as of the time of filing this report on Tuesday.
The Delta State Police Command confirmed the development to our correspondent in the early hours Tuesday.
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Confirming the incident, the State Police Public Relations Officers, DSP Onome Onovwakpoyeya, said no inmate absconded from the facility.
She said following the development, security agencies comprising of the police led by the Warri Police Area Commander rushed to the facility to restore normalcy and beef up security.
According to her, “As soon as it happened, policemen from ‘A’ and ‘B’ Divisions and other divisions under the Warri Area Command including the Area Commander himself were quickly deployed to the scene to beef of security at the facility.
“It was the roof and the fence that were damaged. I am not aware of inmate escaping during the incident. Tactical teams and Quick Response were also deployed.”
