An inmate of the medium security prison, Koton-Karfe
in Kogi state, Lawrence Urih has escaped from custody
during his trial at the State High Court, Lokoja.
The accused escaped from the prison wanders in the
premises of the state high court where he was brough
for the continuation of his trial.
It was gathered that the inmate who was standing trial
at Kogi High Court II for criminal conspiracy and armed
robbery scaled the walls of the High Court complex and
escaped when an officer of the Prison Service escorted
him out to urinate.
Urih, a painter from Ole, Delta State, was escorted out
by an unarmed prisons warden and crossed a stretch of
over 50 meters of grassland to the high wall to urinate.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Kogi state
command of the Nigerian Prisons Service, Umar
Abubakar, who confirmed the incident on Tuesday in
Lokoja, said the escape took place on Monday.
He however, said the command was not immediately
informed as he had to confirm from the officer in
charge of the Koton-Karfe prisons on Tuesday.
However, the prosecuting counsel, Badama Kadiri,
expressed concerns over the development, saying he
suspected foul play in the escape of the accused.
He said it was wrong for a trained prisons’ personnel to
escort a self-confessed armed robber to urinate during
trial unarmed and without handcuffs.
Kadiri said he was particularly disturbed that the prison
officers did not tell him, adding that he had to apply for
adjournment when he did not see the accused in court.
On the trial of the accused, the prosecuting counsel
said the trial had had reached advance stage as that
four of his eight witnesses had already testified and one
was billed to testify on Monday but for the escape.
In his head charges, said Urih allegedly conspired with
one Aby (surename unknown) and a commercial
motorcyclist whose identity is not known both at large,
to rob a former chairman of the Nigerian Bar
Association (NBA), Lokoja branch, William Aliwo of
N500,000 cash at gun point.
The charge said Aliwo was robbed at gun point in his
office on May 9, 2016 at about 12 noon.
Kadiri said that the accused also made away with a
Nokia 640XL handset and one IPAD but luck ran out on
him on May 10, 2017 when the lawyer’s secretary,
Hajarat Alkali spotted him in banking hall of Zenith
Bank, Lokoja and promptly reported.
