It was a heavy downpour that lasted hours in the early morning of Monday. Homes were brought down. And so also were the walls of the old Koton-karfe Prisons, which has begging for attention for a while.
Apparently fearing for their lives in the flood; or for some, seeing a leeway to bolt away, 228 inmates were said to have allegedly escaped.
The good news, however, is that 100 have been re-arrested, while an unspecified number returned of their own volition.
The medium federal correctional centre.
Media reports quoted the acting Chief Immam of Koton-Karfi central mosque, Saidu Suleiman, Nuhu, as saying that the rains led to River Osugu overflooding its embankment and destroying many houses, including a part of the correctional centre.
The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Correctional Service, Mr Jafar Ahmed, who was on ground in Koton Kafe on Monday said that the flood came at about 3a.m., submerging the perimeter fence and the walls of two cells.
Ahmed said that the prison was not fit habitation adding that re-arrested inmates would be re-distributed to other correctional facilities in the state.