Economic activities were paralysed in Ekwulobia, Aguata Local
Government Area of Anambra State On Tuesday when residents in the
community protested the alleged relocation of Boko Haram prisoners to
the federal prison in the area.
About 47 of the captured Boko Haram prisoners were said to have been relocated to the Ekwulobia prison facility from the North-east.
The protesters, who included traditional rulers, the clergy, traders, women and youths took to the streets of Ekwulobia as early as 8 am and marched peacefully to the Aguata council headquarters, then to the adjoining Oko community, former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme’s home town, carrying placards some of which read, “Buhari don’t export terrorism to the South-east” and “Boko Haram prisoners are not wanted here”, among others.
Business activities were brought to a halt as traders locked up their shops and commercial motorcyclists blared their horns in protest.
The chairman of Aguata council area, Mr. Tony Umeoji, bemoaned the transfer of Boko Haram prisoners to Ekwulobia Prisons, saying it was politically motivated and aimed at stunting the development of the entire South-east, starting from Anambra State.
“I must tell you that this development will chase away intending investors coming to Anambra State, thereby setting back the wheel of progress of the state,” he said, adding that a situation like this called for sober concern because of the apprehension and restiveness it had caused among Ekwulobia people.
“The people are scared and there is a general sense of insecurity in the place. The Ekwulobia Prisons has not got the capacity and facility for such high-risk inmates. The prison was built to house 84 people and there are 133 inmates already, and you are adding another 47 inmates of Boko Haram extraction. That is too much and not healthy at all,” he said.
Also, the lawmaker representing Aguata II constituency in the Anambra House of Assembly, Ikem Uzozie, appealed to the federal government led by President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently relocate the Boko Haram inmates to a prison with maximum capacity and facility.
According to him, the development had shattered the relative peace which hitherto existed in the area.
He added that the state House of Assembly may cut short its one-month recess and reconvene with a view to deliberating on the matter and prevail on the presidency to redress the issue.
In a related incident, the presidency has said that 47 former Boko Haram members and more than 300 victims rescued from a militant stronghold in the Northeast Sambisa forest have entered a rehabilitation programme.
At least 22 women and girls, who were recruited to be suicide bombers, are also undergoing a “de-radicalisation” programme run by Dr. Fatima Akilu, head of the Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Department in the Office of the National Security Adviser, Femi Adesina, a presidential spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
He did not however specify if the 47 former sect members were the suspects who had been relocated to the Ekwulobia Prisons.
“One of the objectives of the CVE is to reform terrorists and prevent others from joining terrorist organisations and violent sects,” according to the statement.
President Buhari “said that the federal government will continue to do its best to ensure that victims of Boko Haram’s atrocities receive necessary support.”
Dr. Akilu, who met with Buhari to brief him on the work of her unit, said that its non-military approach was running concurrently with the armed onslaught against insurgents in the country.
Akilu said so far, the CVE has rehabilitated no fewer than 305 victims of terrorism rescued from the Sambisa Forest by the Nigerian military.
She told the president that a National Security Corridor Programme had been created to provide a safe route for those who wish to leave Boko Haram voluntarily and 47 erstwhile members of the group had embraced the programme.
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