The Presidents-General
of the Anambra Community on Tuesday urged the Federal Government to relocate
the 47 Boko Haram suspects transferred to Ekwulobia Prisons in Aguata Local
Government of the state.
The 177 community
leaders, under the aegis of Anambra State Association of Town Unions (ASATU),
made the call at a protest rally in Awka.
The protesters who
moved round the capital city carried placards with various inscriptions.
Some of the
inscriptions read ``we need peace, not Boko Haram’’, ``Ekwulobia Prison is not
a maximum prison’’, ``Ekwulobia Prison is just behind Federal Polytechnic
Oko’’, among others.
Mr Jap Okoro, the
President of ASATU, said the decision to transfer the prisoners to the state
was not in the best interest of the people in the area.
He pointed out that
there was no military formation there to forestall any case of jail break.
Okoro said the courts
in Anambra also do not have jurisdiction to try the inmates for their offences
as they were still awaiting trial.
He then urged the
Federal Government to rescind the decision by taking urgent steps to relocate
the detainees outside Anambra and the entire South East.
``The Ekwulobia prison
is a minimum security prison located in the middle of a densely populated
community, surrounded by tertiary institutions and therefore grossly inadequate
for such inmates of high security risk.
``Why should they be
brought here? There is no military presence, in case of the recurrent emergence
of prison breaks associated with Boko Haram insurgents and detainees.
``We,
Presidents-General of the 177 communities in Anambra, therefore urge the
Federal Government to rescind this decision and take immediate steps to
relocate these detainees outside Anambra state and indeed the entire South
East.’’
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