47 Boko Haram prisoners incarcerated in Ekwulobia Prison in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State have been moved out by the Federal Government following pressures, agitations from South-Easterners.
While briefing reporters at the Governor’s Lodge, Amawbia on Thursday, the State Governor, Willie Obiano, flanked by the leadership of the traditional institution, church and market leaders, expressed gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari and the Vice President, Yemi Osibanjo, for their cooperation in the matter that threw the state into disarray for weeks.
Governor Obiano also commended the citizens of the state for their patience and belief in him to ensure an end to the matter. He urged them to keep supporting both the state and Federal Government as they continue to work towards citizens’ well-being.
The prisoners, according to the Governor, were relocated out of the state on Tuesday.
The All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) had on July 13, urged the Federal Government to urgently move the 47 Boko Haram inmates recently relocated to Ekwulobia Minimum Prison in Anambra.
The party’s National Chairman, Dr Victor Ike Oye, asked the government to move the inmates to a more secure facility outside the state or take them back to where they were moved from. Traders in Nigeria’s South-east also shut down markets in Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Abia and Ebonyi states in protest of the continued stay of the dreaded Boko Haram prisoners in the region.
The protest came despite the assurance by the Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano, after a security meeting with a 7-man delegation from the National Security Adviser, that the 47 Boko Haram detainees at Ekwulobia prison would be moved out of the state soon.