NKRUMAH BANKONG-OBI/Lafia
The governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule has granted pardon to fourteen inmates across correctional centres in the State. The announcement of the pardon is contained in a statement issued in Lafia on Monday by the State’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Shuaibu Labaran Magaji
The State’s chief law officer said the governor utilized his prerogative, acting in accordance with the powers conferred on him by section 212(1) and (2) of the 1999 constitution as amended, and in consultation with the State Advisory Council on the Prerogative of Mercy, which the governor chairs.
Magaji said the governor took this action to commemorate the January 1 new year celebrations. The released inmate, according to the statement include Sani Musa, Mohammed Maji, Danjuma Anthony, Ali Mohammed, Yahuza Turaki, Ibrahim Musa and Abdullahi Usman. Others are ThankGod Bananas, Usman Idris, Adamu Sule, Terzungwe Mshi, Shehu Abubakar, Zaccheus Ayuba and Surajo Abdullahi.
The commissioner urged the former inmates to be law abiding and to eschew any action that is capable of bringing them back to the correctional centre.
It will be recalled that Magaji had made decongestion of correctional centres a cardinal objective while in office. For instance, while hosting members of the correspondent’ Chapel in his office, Magaiji had decreed the number of people in detention centres for frivolous offences or offences that warrant alternative punishment apart from incarceration.
“There are offences you where you exercise prosecutorial discretion on whether you spend the public’s funds in prosecuting those cases or not. For example, if you go to the prisons, you will find people there who were involved in civil misunderstanding among themselves there because somebody somewhere is more powerful,” he had told the newsmen, promising to offer the best advice to the governor on the issue of prison congestion.