Nigeria island prison offers nation's dark history
ITA OKO ISLAND, Nigeria, MAY 11 (AP/UNB) - Ita Oko Island in Nigeria holds a prison that never officially existed in records though it housed critics of the nation's military rule.
The island prison allowed Nigeria's military governments to have opponents disappear into the swamps of the Lekki Lagoon near Lagos at a camp accessible only by boat and helicopter.
A newspaper expose in 1988 forced officials to close the prison, and state officials later reopened it for what appears to be a failed $1 million effort to rehabilitate the gang members who dominate Lagos' streets.
It now sits in ruins as a haunting reminder of past abuses of power, yet Africa's most populous nation still plans to open another classified facility to hold and interrogate members of a radical Islamist sect.
The island prison allowed Nigeria's military governments to have opponents disappear into the swamps of the Lekki Lagoon near Lagos at a camp accessible only by boat and helicopter.
A newspaper expose in 1988 forced officials to close the prison, and state officials later reopened it for what appears to be a failed $1 million effort to rehabilitate the gang members who dominate Lagos' streets.
It now sits in ruins as a haunting reminder of past abuses of power, yet Africa's most populous nation still plans to open another classified facility to hold and interrogate members of a radical Islamist sect.
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