Female Pro-Biafra protesters.heCable
At least twenty-five female Pro-Biafra protesters being detained in the Owerri federal prison facility in Imo state have been moved out of the town.
A source in the prison told Punch newspaper on Thursday, August 23 that the women were moved out to Okigwe prison on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
The source said the development became necessary following the congestion of the female cells in the Owerri federal prison.
Punch reports that the 548-capacity prison had 2,253 inmates because of the presence of the 127 Pro-Biafra women and 74 suspected cultists.
“The Owerri prison authority has transferred 25 IPOB women to Okigwe prison. Ten were taken to Okigwe prison on Wednesday”, he said.
“We are having space problem. The female cells are filled to capacity. There are no places they can stay. The authority has to move them to another nearby prison.”
The Public Relations Officer of the Owerri Federal Prison, James Madugba, who confirmed the development in a telephone conversation with Punch, stated that only 10 Pro-Biafra women were transferred to Okigwe prison as of Wednesday.
The prison spokesperson said the reason for the transfer of the women was to guarantee their safety and welfare.
He acknowledged that the prison facility was congested and that the female cells were pressured because of the number of female inmates in custody.
Meanwhile, 15 more women suspected to be members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra were on Thursday remanded in the Owerri federal prison by a magistrate’s court in Owerri presided over by S.K Kadurumba.
The development has increased the number of IPOB women remanded in custody by the court to 127 in the last four days.
Arraigning the fifteen women, the police prosecutor, Caleb Achi, told the court that the women committed the same crime the other 112 earlier remanded by the same court committed.