Anambra Governor Willie Obiano has confirmed the relocation of 47 Boko Haram convicts from Ekwulobia Prison in Aguata Local Government Area of the state.

Briefing reporters at the Governor’s Lodge, Amawbia on Thursday, Chief Obiano, flanked by the leadership of the traditional institution, church and market leaders, expressed gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osibanjo, for their cooperation in the matter that led to protests by traders in the state and elsewhere in the South-East 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 Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the ruling party in Anambra, 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 the 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 Governor Obiano, after a security meeting with a 7-man delegation from the National Security Adviser, that the 47 Boko Haram prisoners would soon be moved out of the state.

•Photo shows Boko Haram suspects.