The breach of the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Kuje, has elicited palpable fear and condemnation.
It happened hours after President Muhammadu Buhari’s advance team of security and protocol officers was ambushed en route to Katsina.
The audacious attack in Kuje started at about 10 p.m. Tuesday night and lasted nearly three hours.
A Twitter user @AlBayozBabs wrote about the magnitude of the incursion of the penitentiary.
“I worked in Kuje prison for more than 6 years and mostly on night shifts where danger is on the high risks.
“I have witnessed so many attacks but you see this one, these boys came prepared for us. Imagine an attack for more than 2 hours”, he tweeted.
Scores of terrorists stormed the location with motorcycles and detonated improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and grenades.
The delay in reinforcement allowed them to have a field day as a barrage of bullets was fired throughout the assault.
Some Nigerians living around the area took to social media to give live updates of the incident.
The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) noted that the assailants were repelled by armed officers.
But an unspecified number of hardened criminals, including terrorists, are now on the loose.
The situation has caused panic in and around the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with residents apprehensive about the safety.
Meanwhile, there is a heavy presence of the police and military around Kuje as security agencies begin to search for the escapees.
The attack on the prison occurred nearly one year after terrorists hit the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA).
Nigerians are knocking the Federal Government in their reactions to the latest terror act, warning that the country is sitting on a time bomb.
Despite the arrest and elimination of terrorists, several surviving members of different sects continue to kidnap and kill citizens week in, week out.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that more than three million Nigerians are displaced in the North-East alone.
