Remove Those Terrorist From Anambra!

(Pix: nigerianwatch)

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

No matter how it is looked at, the decision to transfer the nearly 50 Boko Haram convicts and/or detainees from the North East to a small, poorly secured prison in Ekwulobia community in Anambra State is one excellent example of how a very bad policy can be so badly executed. Although the Federal prison authorities reserve the right to send prisoners to any of their jail houses across the country, it would appear that in this particular case, they chose to egregiously abuse that right. And by so doing, they created a very grievous image problem for the Muhammadu Buhari regime and injected avoidable fear and panic in a community where people had lived their lives in relative peace.

Those behind this clearly obnoxious decision to relocate those terrorists to Anambra were quick to betray their confusion, and, perhaps, unwholesome intentions when it was reported that businessmen and women in Anambra State had closed their shops and offices and poured into the streets to protest the planned move. An official of the Nigerian Prison Service (NPS) promptly dismissed the story as untrue. Even a spokesperson for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the South East, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, immediately released a statement urging Nigerians to consider the story as unfounded. If it was such a well-meaning policy, why were these fellows and the organizations they represent eager to confuse Nigerians and shield them from the truth?

Well, the truth as we know it today is that the “rumour” has turned out to be true and as you read this now, the terrorists have been effectively planted in Ekwulobia prisons.  Now, the standard practice globally is to keep in Maximum Security Prisons such unrepentant, dare-devil terrorists who derive undue animation from taking their own lives in suicide missions in order to eliminate hapless “infidels.” And the prison in Ekwulobia is not a Maximum Security Prison. So, what exactly informed and justified the choice of Ekwulobia prison, an already unduly over-stretched facility meant for 85 inmates but which at present is housing 185 inmates – more than double of its capacity – as the best place to keep those terrorists? When one also imagines the distance covered to bring these terrorists to Anambra State, one is tempted to give second thought to the view already circulating that some sinister motives may have inspired the decision.