Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council (OYC) has warned the Federal Government against the relocation of some Boko Haram terror suspects to some prison facilities in the South East, saying it amounts to “exportation of terrorism to the peaceful South East geo-political zone.”

National President of OYC, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, who issued the warning in a press statement issued Monday in Umuahia, maintained it was incomprehensible that “anybody would contemplate relocating terror suspects who had wreaked havoc in the North East to the South East which shares no geographical boundaries with the hotbed of Boko Haram.”

OYC, which is the youth wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, equally expressed fears that relocating the terror suspects to “Onitsha or any other federal prisons in the South East, as was being rumored, amounts to exposing the region to Boko Haram attacks.”

The group recalled that some prison facilities in the North, including Abuja “with their sophistications,” have severally come under attack by Boko Haram elements in their desperation to free their members detained in such facilities.

The statement read in part: “Ohanaeze wants to warn the Federal Government to rescind its rumoured plans to relocate Boko Haram suspects to Onitsha prisons.

“We view such move as a declaration of war on the peaceful and law-abiding people of the South East, and we will vigorously resist any step considered injurious to Ndigbo.

“The Federal Government should not export terrorism to Igbo land the way Patrick Sawyer exported Ebola to Nigeria because we don’t deserve such treatment.

“While we appreciate our federal system of government, we will not tolerate any move, policy or action that will make the South East a target of Boko Haram terrorists who have ruined some Northern states.”

OYC advised Buhari not to be deceived into taking any action that would portray him as tribalist in view of the heterogenous nature of Nigeria.

“That we voted massively for ex-President Goodluck Jonathan who lost the election does not mean that we should be treated as prisoners of war. We are equal stakeholders in Nigeria and nobody should try to push us to the wall or take our patience and inestimable sacrifices for the unity of Nigeria as foolishness or sign of weakness.

“Igbo land which enjoyed peace and stability under ex- President Jonathan should not be made porous or exposed to terror attack under the current administration,” the statement added.

•Photo shows Boko Haram terrorists.

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