Hit and Run: Boko Haram Scare in Anambra State by Okechukwu Anarado

‘Like joke, like joke;’ as they would say in common Nigerian social parlance, Anambra State almost caught
fire a few days ago with the viral circulation of speculations that the Nigerian Prison Service marked Ekwulobia Prison in the state for housing some Boko Haram dissidents on transfer from Northern Nigeria.
Though the restive tendencies persist till date, the prompt counsel of Gov. Willie Obiano restrained the effusive passion of residents of the state from boiling over. Markets in the state were closed down on Saturday, 27 June, 2015, as traders, artisans and other people engaged in a protest march to demonstrate stern rejection of the proposal to use any part of Anambra State as dumping ground for a section of the leprous group.
The protesters aptly described the proposed consignment as toxic, cancerous and therefore unacceptable. They expressed readiness to resist any attempt to foist it on them. A similar protest march followed at Ekwulobia on 30 June, 2015 where the protesters queried the appropriateness of the peaceful and densely populated town for such exercise; more so when the Ekwulobia Prison is sited in a fully built-up residential neighbourhood that bears no profile of high security confinement yard.
For well over five years running, Nigeria – its government and people – has been rattled stiff by the emergence of the fiery, rabid and blood thirsty band of criminals whose claim on Islam provides a smokescreen for indiscriminate perpetration of criminality on the citizens and other residents of the country. The atrocious activities of this group repulse Muslims as well as whosoever else understands the precepts of Islam, albeit remotely.
 Devotees of Boko Haram who are largely uncouth Muslims from the northern part of the country are generally perceived as outcasts in sociopolitical and religious circles. The devil-may-care mode of operation of the group in their killings, maiming and destruction of lives, property and neighbourhoods provokes utter reprehension from everyone who recognizes the sanctity of human life and the economy of interpersonal or group relationships. The Federal Government of Nigeria and the international community have rightly branded Boko Haram as a terrorist pack with the capacity of causing severe socioeconomic disorder in the country and beyond if not consciously checked.
Little wonder then the prevailing palpable anxiety in Anambra State where the residents cannot fathom any reason why the Nigerian Prison service should opt for the state as host to Boko Haram chieftains: What military strategy or shade of diplomacy justifies the fortification of a war zone and deliberately making other zones vulnerable to attacks? How would the Federal Government relocate the arm of the Nigeria Military combating Boko Haram to Bornu State and turn around to sabotage Anambra State whose peculiar security challenges of armed robbery and kidnapping have been successfully contained by Governor Willie Obiano? Could plot be the beginning of the unveiling of the suspected design to bring Igboland to ruins, using Anambra as a pilot scheme?
Why would President Buhari subscribe to this obscure conclusion? I guess the President is not privy to this move. But how can such sensitive security issue fly beyond the purview of the presidency? Too many unsettling questions to which only prompt reappraisals, frank answers and corrective actions by the appropriate authorities can inform a reinvention of the trust the Presidency desires from Ndigbo and other parts of the country outside the throes of Boko Haram. It might be too early in the life of this administration for the President to call the bluff on issue as vital and critical in the life of our dear country.          
 Though northern Nigeria, particularly the North East geopolitical zone is the hotbed of Boko Haram’s nefarious activities, there is hardly any part of Nigeria that has not lost persons or property to the group’s brigandage. The South East, particularly Anambra State, has its own pains from the group. About three years ago Adazi-Nnukwu town in Anambra State lost over fourteen of its citizens in just one Boko Haran attack in Adamawa State. This is additional to other losses the town has suffered from Boko Haram onslaught. This suggests the enormity of loss the entire state and the South East have registered in the face of Boko Haram. This is why the Easterners would not wish to touch Boko Haram even with a long pole. It is even strategically faulty to bring perpetrators of these pains on a people upon them. It’s like telling the people ‘Here, your enemies!’ and daring the same people to vent anger on them and get ‘lawfully’ mowed down by government forces positioned to further rub in their pains. 
The reality of the above readily justifies the anxiety that has enveloped Anambra State since news of the spiriting of the unconscionable rascals into the state filtered in. The uneasiness is heightened by the enhanced sense of security and safety that Chief Willie Obiano’s administration has provided in the past fifteen months which the citizens hold sacrosanct and would not want breached. Although the Governor has prevailed on the people to be calm while peaceable positions would be sought to the issue in question, tempers are still very high. The people have refused to wholly accept the denials from the Nigerian Prisons that no persons of Boko Haram bent are billed for Anambra.
About Government and official denials; hindsight encourages citizens to pry into official government positions to test the veracity of the content. Recall the height of the contradiction that exploited the naivety of Igbos and cajoled them into remaining in the North while the country hurt in the First Republic. The north-controlled Federal Government, in league with Northern Nigeria Government, discouraged the exodus of Easterners from the North, only for those who harkened to the counsel to go down in their numbers (unprotected by the powers that exposed them) in the inglorious pogrom that is today either unmentioned in official quarters or transgressed by unrepentant patrons of the scheme. Travesty of history! With the suspicion engendered by the rulers’ penchant for deploying deceit to achieve their selfish ends, the citizens now strive to live less as victims of the whims and hidden intentions of the leadership. Our President should be seen to be concerned with restoration of people’s trust on the government.
Okechukwu Anarado writes from Awka