Apprehension pervades Anambra, following rumours of relocation of suspected Boko Haram detainees to prisons in the state, writes Senior Correspondent, OKEY MADUFORO.
Onitsha, Anambra commercial city, last week, abandoned its trading activities and took to the streets in protest over the rumour that suspected members of the murderous Islamic sect, Boko Haram, under detention, were to be transferred to the state. The concern of the protesters and residents of the state was that the presence of Boko Haram detainees in Anambra would put the security of the state at risk.
The protest was later to be extended to other cities in the state. While it spread, it brought to the fore the rivalry between the governing All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), even on issues pertaining to security.
Apparently acting on the frenzy of the moment, last Monday, suspected hoodlums literally took over the Amansea end from Enugu State and Amaoka from Imo State, turning back vehicles with stickers and insignia of the APC.
APGA versus APC
In the build-up to the 2011 general election and 2013 gubernatorial elections in the state, part of the allegations against the APC was that it was sponsoring Boko Haram. The allegation, which was hardly proved, ironically, worked against the party’s governorship candidate, Dr. Chris Ngige.
With the new development, the tussle between APGA and APC appears to have been rekindled, barely three years to the next governorship election in the state.
Chairman of APC in the state, Emeka Ibe, who spoke with reporters in Awka, stressed that “deployment of prison inmates around the country is a federal government affair guided by prime paramilitary considerations and managed by the Nigeria Prisons Service to which all lawful authorities in Anambra State have access”.
He added however that there was no directive from the Nigeria Prisons Service or any other arm of the Federal Government of Nigeria that Boko Haram convicts be sent to Anambra. He accused Anambra State Government of merely whipping sentiments to blackmail the party’s leadership at the centre.
“We however assure that the APC in Anambra State will not support any move that has the potential to endanger the acceptance of APC by Anambrarians. We shall oppose any action which is aimed at bringing our party to public odium in Anambra State,” he said.
Obiano’s stance
Governor Willie Obiano, however, dismissed the APC position with a wave of the hand. A release by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, James Eze, stated that when the governor got wind of the planned relocation of the high risk prisoners to Anambra, he quickly swung into action and contacted the relevant authorities to seek clarifications on the matter, after which he raised several objections to the plan.
The governor’s objections, according to Eze, centred on the fact that Anambra had been one of the most peaceful states in the country in the past one year under his watch and that the arrival of the radical elements in any part of the state would disrupt this peace and lead to a new regime of a different kind of fear in the state.
He noted also that Ekwulobia Prisons where the inmates were being transferred to is not a maximum security prison and therefore not suitable as holding place for convicted terrorists.
Obiano referred to global trends which show that terrorists and terror suspects are kept in strongly-fortified and isolated places, citing Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp, a military facility where America keeps high-risk terror suspects and convicts, which is located away from the people.
Ekwulobia Prisons, he argued, does not fit into this category of detention facilities.
“Ekwulobia Prisons, has a capacity to hold 85 inmates. At the moment, there are 135 inmates in the prison. Therefore, there is no space for new prisoners. The acute shortage of space presents a high possibility for the radicalisation of other inmates by the Boko Haram convicts,” Obiano further observed.
He added that unlike other locations where the terror convicts are held in sparsely-populated areas, which makes their isolation from the people easy, Ekwulobia is a densely-populated town, hence the very high risk of contact between these radical prisoners and the civilian population.
He also remarked that the idea behind the relocation of the prisoners to Anambra may not have paid adequate attention to the sensibilities of the country, especially given that some ethnic populations have suffered the most from the activities of these convicts across the North.
Trouble-shooting
The governor said his efforts to establish this understanding and achieve a speedy and peaceful resolution of the matter went to the highest authorities, where he was given assurances that the matter would be looked into with a view to resolving it with dispatch.
Eze explained that it was against this backdrop that Obiano worked assiduously to ensure that there was no breakdown of law and order during the peaceful demonstration staged by traders across the state on Saturday, June 27, 2015 against the relocation exercise.
TheNiche gathered that since the demonstration, Obiano has continued to engage the relevant authorities on behalf of the citizens to ensure an amicable resolution of the issue.
Enter Aka Ikenga
Aka Ikenga, an Igbo think-tank, has also reacted to the relocation saga, describing it as brazen impunity by the federal government on the feeling of the Anambra government and people.
In a release by its National Publicity Secretary, Okey Onyemobi, the group frowned at the development which it feared would jeopardise the peace and security of the state.
“Anambra State is a peaceful state. The people have spoken that their security will be jeopardised when hardened terrorists are inhabited in a prison in their state that is not a maximum security prison. We therefore urge the federal government to move those detainees out of Anambra State to a more appropriate location. This should be done immediately before things get out of hand,” the statement stressed.
…MASSOB too
Obiano’s sentiments were shared by the Director of Information, Movement for the Actualisation of a Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Uchenna Madu. In fact, Madu described the relocation exercise as a plot by Northern Nigeria to export terror to South East.
He argued that the alleged crime was committed in the North East and North Central, wondering why the prisoners should be transferred to the South East.
He insisted that the transfer portends grave consequences on the Igbo race. “It is important that we state the position of Ndigbo and indeed MASSOB as a body. A crime is committed in the North East and North Central and the culprits are being sent to prisons in the South East.
“This has grave consequence on the part of the South East. When these prisoners are quartered in Igboland, they would certainly begin to indoctrinate the inmates from the South East and ultimately make them see reasons those prison walls must be pulled down and why the Igbo leaders should be killed and also why all public places must be burnt.
“Another fear here is that their members who have been at large would now find a safe haven to strike and release them. We all know the implication of such an action on Igboland.
“These people just want us in Igboland to witness similar horror that they have passed through in the last three years, and that explains why the prisoners are being transferred down here,” Madu stated.
Reign of anxiety
Aside the MASSOB position, the mood in the South East, since the relocation information filtered out had been more of apprehension, especially on the fate of the residents and safety of the area.
For example, at the Ekwulobia roundabout, on Tuesday, June 30, traders, artisans and transporters blocked the major entry and exit points to Uga, Nanka, Isofia and Okoh towns, chanting war songs and demanding evacuation of the prisoners said to have been transferred to the town.
Though no life was lost in the exercise, nine persons were said to have received various degrees of injuries.
The confusion extended to the Aguata Local Government Council headquarters, forcing the workers to desert the premises.
The council chairman, Chukwu ma Umeorji, who spoke to our correspondent, described the presence of convicted Boko Haram members in Ekwulobia as a security time bomb waiting to explode.
“It is a situation that calls for concern due to the calibre of prisoners brought to Ekwulobia. Our people have taken to the streets demonstrating, and you can also feel their anger. Ekwulobia does not have a maximum security prison. It has capacity for 80 beds, and already the current inmates are 135. So when you add over 47 Boko Haram convicts, you can imagine what the situation would look like,” he contended.
Umeorji further contended that the transfer has political undertone aimed at destroying the relative peace in Anambra.
“Boko Haram is an international terrorist group that has very strong network. This is a group that had attacked Police Headquarters in Abuja and military formations. It will only take five Hilux truck full of members and within three hours Ekwulobia would be history,” he moaned.
Umeorji observed that the choice of Ekwulobia and the South East in general for the prisoner transfer is an indication of a plot by a cabal to unsettle Igboland.
In similar tone, the lawmaker representing Aguata 2 Constituency, Ikemefuna Uzoezie, described the development as an unholy arrangement.
“It is indeed shocking that the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Nigerian Prisons Service had to choose Ekwulobia of all places for this looming genocide. Their members would certainly storm Ekwulobia and kill people, break through the prison and release their wives and children,” he warned.
Uzoezie remarked that the North had lost a lot in terms of human and material resources to the deadly activities of Boko Haram and would want the South East to experience the trauma by transferring the sect members to Ekwulobia.
“Whatever that affects Anambra would certainly affect the entire Igboland. Now Anambra has been made to come into the searchlight of Boko Haram as state where their relations are being punished. The next story you would hear is bomb blast in Ekwulobia and it will spill over to other parts of Igboland,” he said.
The House of Assembly, he assured, would deliberate on the matter on resumption from its recess.
At the grassroots
The Traditional Ruler of Ekwulobia Town, Igwe Emmanuel Onyeneke, is also not amused at the development that he has described as embarrassing.
“I do not know what to call this one now. I feel this is embarrassing because we are no longer safe. Ekwulobia is a town that holds the economy of Aguata-Orumba North and Orumba South local government areas. Should Boko Haram visit Ekwulobia, the entire Anambra South Senatorial zone would collapse. Why would the federal government choose to be unkind to us in this manner?” he asked.
Onyeneke told TheNiche that the Aguata Council of Traditional Rulers had commenced deliberations on the issue, adding that the members would soon be meeting with the governor in order to make its position known to the federal government.
Presidents-General of communities in Aguata are also not taking the matter lightly. In the words of one of them, “the level of resistance that we shall put up would be unimaginable. This is wickedness of the highest order. The people who took that action are enemies of Ndigbo and Aguata in particular. It is a question of time and we shall go public on this matter. Look at the erosion problems in Aguata and the federal government is doing nothing about it. The only thing they can do for us is to send 47 international terrorists to Ekwulobia. This is wickedness.”
Though unconfirmed reports had it that a total of 47 suspected Boko Haram inmates had already arrived the Ekwulobia Prisons in Anambra State, no official of the Nigerian Prisons Service had spoken on the matter, thus fuelling the confusion surrounding it.
