Chief Willie Obiano, on Monday cancelled his official engagements, including Executive Council meeting to meet President Muhammadu Buhari over the alleged transfer of some Boko Haram detainees to prisons in Anambra.
Anambrariansnews reports that it could not be so as the National Executive Council (NEC) attended by all the state Governors in Nigeria was inaugurated by Buhari Monday and Obiano could not abandon all he was doing to go and see Buhari on a day he was supposed to be in Abuja. Anambrariansnews maintains 47 Boko Haram suspects have been dumped in Ekwulobia prisons, Anambra state based on intelligent reports and community elders who witnessed it.
The state commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Dr Uju Nwogu made this known to our correspondent in Awka, Anambra state capital.
She said the Governor would want to get to the root of the matter to ensure that the matter would be properly handled in the interest of the people of the state.
Nwogu who enjoined the people of the state to be calm and go about their businesses without fear of molestation, implored journalists not to overheat the system on the matter.
The commissioner denied that 47 Boko Haram suspects had already being relocated to a prison in the state on Sunday.
But there was confusion and palpable tension in Anambra state on Monday over rumoured relocation of Boko Haram prisoners to a prison in the state .(name withheld)
It was gathered that 47 Boko Haram prisoners were brought to the prison on Sunday amid tight security.
This created apprehension of imminent danger as people of the state continued to call family members, friends and well-wishers to confirm the development.
A statement issued by Media Assistant to the Governor, James Eze, on Sunday exonerated Governor Obiano of tacit support for the relocation as alleged by detractors.
The statement entitled: ‘The Planned relocation of Boko Haram convicts to Anambra Prisons-setting the records straight’ reads : “The attention of the Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano has been drawn to the mischievous speculations on the social media that the planned relocation of some Boko Haram convicts to some prisons in Anambra State was done with his tacit approval and endorsement.
” I wish to categorically dismiss these speculations; hearsay and beer parlour banters as fundamentally untrue and should be disregarded by Nigerians.
“The fact is that when governor Obiano got wind of the planned relocation of these high risk prisoners to Anambra State, 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”.
Continuing, the statement said “Obiano’s many objections among others are: Anambra is one of the most peaceful states in Nigeria in the past one year and that the arrival of these 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;
“That Ekwulobia Prisons is not a Maximum Security Prison and not suitable as holding place for convicted terrorists because experience shows that terrorists and terror suspects are kept in strongly fortified and isolated places;
“That Ekwulobia Prisons has a capacity to hold 85 inmates and at the moment there are 135 inmates in the prison; therefore there is no space for new prisoners”;
“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. There is a very high risk of contact between these radical prisoners and the civilian population with an avoidable danger;
“That the relocation of these prisoners to Anambra may not have paid adequate attention to the sensibilities of the country, especially the fact that some ethnic populations have suffered the most from the activities of these convicts across the North” and so on.
Eze said that Governor Obiano’s efforts to establish this understanding and achieve a speedy and peaceful resolution of the matter went to the highest authorities and he was given assurances that the matter would be looked into with a view to resolving it with dispatch.
It will be recalled that traders in the State went on rampage on Saturday over the plans to relocate the Boko Haram prisoners to prisons in the state.
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