Lokoja – The Federal Government on Friday insisted that the gun attack on Koton-Karfe prison in Kogi was carried out by hoodlums and not members of the Boko Haram. The Minister of Interior, Mr Abba Moro who visited the prison to assess the extent of damage said that the attack was not masterminded by the Boko Haram. He dismissed claims that the attack was carried out by the group to free its members in detention, insisting that no member of the sect was being kept in the prison. Moro said that the attack had heightened the need to pay special attention to prisons in the country, assuring that the lessons learnt from the incident would not be lost on the government. The Minister, who later paid a visit to Gov. Idris Wada, stressed the need for cooperation between the federal and state governments on the maintenance and decongestion of prisons nationwide. He pleaded with the state government to look into the cases of those being detained for minor offences, with a view to decongesting prisons in the state. He also requested the governor to include the state Controller of Prisons into the State Security Council. Moro, who was accompanied by the Comptroller-General of Prisons, Mr Zakari Ibrahim and top officials of the ministry also appealed to the state government to facilitate the completion of the new Koton-Karfe prison. Work on the new prison is at 70 per cent completion. Responding, the governor described the attack on the prison as unfortunate and pledged to cooperate with the Federal Government to prevent a re-occurrence. He approved the immediate inclusion of the Controller of Prisons in the state as a member of the state security council. Wada, who had earlier visited the Koton-Karfe prison, told the minister that a committee headed by the state Commissioner for Justice, had been set up to review the cases of detainees, as part of efforts to decongest prisons in the state. Meanwhile, 31 out of the 119 inmates who escaped from the prison on Wednesday night had been rearrested. (NAN)