Ejike Anyaduba
By choice I pick
every call to my phone promptly. But on this particular night I acted outside of
my wont. My phone rang off the hook a number of times. Fagged out by the day’s
activities, I forgot to reset it to ringing mode after a long spell in silence. By the
time I checked, my call log had a lot of missed calls. As I scanned the phone for
detail, one of the numbers called yet again. But the voice on the other end was
barely audible. It stuttered out words that could hardly be pieced together. I
presumed network problem and dropped the line. But the call came again; this time
the caller made greater effort to be heard. He and others (because there were
background voices) appeared to be debating an issue.
The transfer of
Boko Haram prisoners to Ekwulobia pen in Anambra state has been generating a
lot of controversy. Very few subjects can claim to have done so in recent past.
The closest, perhaps, was the dumping by nightfall of some waifs at the foot of
the Niger Bridge by the then Fashola government in Lagos. That incident almost
pitched Anambra state against Lagos and helped define the election of the
period. It may feel safe to accept as normal the prolonged public debate that has
dogged the prisoners’ transfer because of its unusualness. Either through security
measures or divine intervention or both, the Southeast zone was insulated and
became void of the menace of the terrorists. And it appears to wantto remain so.
Thou gh there were
some resident Igbo and a few peripatetic ones who were killed within the
Boko Haram enclave, but to cohabit with the suicides (be they captive or free)
would be a costly acquiescence. Perhaps, this explains the consistent
demonstrations and protests witnessed differently at Onitsha, Awka, Nnewi, and
Ekwulobia. Other muffled voices of complaint yet to be given expression have
failed to be assuaged by the futile explanation that the transfer is a routine program
of the Prison Establishment. Essentially, the transfer is seen by the people as
yielding the zone - hitherto immune to boundless violence - to possible rape by
the suicides.
The strong
feeling of disapproval from the people is premise upon three major reasons. One is
the fear of indoctrination of other inmates who were not known to harbor as much
ruthless streak as the terrorists, and whose convictions were secured on less
criminal charge. Two is the fear of escape from the prison and possible mingling
with the natives. Three, and perhaps the worst of the fears, is likely invasion
of the prison and its surrounding by other members of the terrorist group who may
attempt to free the captives.
As unconvincingly
feeble as the excuse that this set of Boko Haram prisoners is not as
radicalized as the ones wreaking havoc in the Northeast and beyond; it beats the
imagination of everybody as to the choice of a poor prison like Ekwulobia. If the
argument is to insulate this set of prisoners from further radicalization
couldn’t a better equipped prison suffice?
At any rate, what attraction has
Ekwulobia as a prison? Is it capacious? Does it have enough room to swing a cat?
Does it have the necessary facility to hold in check such high risk prisoners? Now
soldiers are said to be drafted to the place to keep surveillance.
One the cost of
security will be more. Two there is no assurance that an invasion will be repelled
when it occurs. Aside the fact
that the terrorists have been a handful for security operatives,
nothing has
changed in recent past to inspire in the people the kind of confidence exuded by those
who made the transfer. Ekwulobia prison or any other prison in the Southeast
does not fit the bill of a safe place for Boko Haram-type of prisoners. Except
there is a fail-safe option in this prison that is not evident to the people, the
transfer remains a policy mistake. For a zone that is the least developed,
including its prison facilities, to be the first choice for the transfer is very strange.
Again the transfer failed to follow Nigeria’s unofficial scale of preference in her
distribution of favours. Southeast normally comes last in this scale. However
hard those involved in the unsavoury transfer try to convince people of their
good intention; the host community Ekwulobia, Anambra and the Southeast are
uncomfortable with their presence.
And not until
they are relocated from Anambra, every other state in the Southeast zone is
at risk of being infiltrated. Everybody now sleeps their eyes open in keeping
with the saying that a man hemmed in by enemies must guard his life always.
To the credit of the Anambra state government, it managed all the protests well,
thus de-escalating them. Even though a lot of people still seethe with rage over
the issue, including those whose calls I missed, government is able to manage the
situation while awaiting redress. Already efforts are on by all concerned
Southeasterners, including the five governors, senators and other stakeholders to
even out.
Sadly, the time
required in thinking out strategy on how to move the zone forward is now
wasted on avoidable problem. It would seem those who hatched the idea to send
the prisoners to Ekwulobia never envisaged there will be outcry. But if they are
conscious of the poverty of infrastructural development in the zone, including
prison services they will know not to annoy the people further.
When in recent
memory did the Southeast zone beat other zones as the first choice
destination for building an industry by the federal government? Virtually all federal
infrastructures in the zone are moribund. Instead of sending high-risk prisoners to the
zone to keep everybody on edge why not expedite work on the 2nd Niger Bridge
which construction has endured the worst politicization in recent memory.
Ejike Anyaduba
Email:
dumdile@yahoo.com