Lebanese VIP Treatment Induced Protest At Kuje Prison

Protest broke out at the Kuje Prisons near Abuja   on Thursday over alleged preferential treatment of three Lebanese inmates by officials of the  facility.

The protest took place just as the  Defence Headquarters said that over 1,000 suspected members of the Islamist militant group, Boko Haram,  were   in  detention facilities in the country.

 The Lebanese prisoners – Mustapha Fawaz, Abdallah Thahani and Talal Ahmed Rodo – believed to be  members of an  international terrorist group, Hezbollah,  were said to have been allowed to use a particular area of the prison ground for the Eid-fitri prayers while other inmates,  including Boko Haram suspects,  were restricted to another place.

 The Lebanese  are standing trial  at a Federal High Court, Abuja, for terrorism and illegal importation of firearms.

 The protesting inmates   destroyed some amenities, including water pipes,  electric cables and cell windows.

 A source told one of  our correspondents that the angry inmates also splashed water on some of the prison officials  who ran  for their  safety.

 A Boko Haram inmate serving a  life sentence was said to have  fainted during the melee.

 Our  source said, “The tension was brought under control by the Deputy Comptroller-General in charge of Operations, Mr. Segun Bewaji,  who attended  to  the convict that fainted.  But the inmates in the single cells were restive and refused to be pacified by the DCG.”

  The  Lebanese suspects were moved to the prison on August 2, 2013 based on an application by their lawyer, Ahmed Raji (SAN), who claimed that  they were no longer comfortable in the custody of the State Security Service.

 The court had granted the application and the suspects were promptly transferred to Kuje Prisons.