Kemisola Oye
THIRTY out of the forty inmates shortlisted for freedom were earlier today granted amnesty and re-integrated into society by the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Kazeem Alogba.
The inmates were pardoned at an open court session presided over by Justice Alogba on the premises of Ikeja Magistrates’ Court in Ogba.
Those granted freedom included four juveniles who were from a foster home, Borstal Training Institution, Adigbe in Abeokuta.
Others were released from Ikoyi Correctional Centre and Kirikiri Correctional Centre.
Some of the inmates had been in correctional facilities since 2013 before they were granted freedom.
The Chief Judge ordered that six of the inmates be returned to the facility while the remaining four names had errors in them.
The Chief Judge, while releasing the suspect, said that the exercise was in line with the efforts by the Federal Government to decongest custodial centres as stipulated in Section 1(1) of the Criminal Justice Release from Custody Act, Cap C40, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2007 and 377 (c) of the Administration of Criminal Justice (amendment) Law 2021.
According to him, he did not release the inmates because he had just returned from the holy pilgrimage.
“I am not a father Christmas and the exercise we are witnessing today is a self-cleansing exercise as provided for in the law.
“It is guided by relevant laws upon fulfilment of requisites before it could be embarked upon,” he said.
Justice Alogba said the exercise is related to people who had stayed much longer than they would have stayed upon conviction and those whose trials had been stalled.
According to him, the exercise, he must admit, is a result of systemic failure as cases had not been going promptly not as a result of failure of the judiciary but due to ancillary factors.
“Cases are not going on in courts not because the magistrates or judges are not upright in their duties but failure as a result of hitches in the course of prosecuting offenders,” he said.
The Chief Judge also commended the committee that looked into the cases of those released for doing a thorough job.
According to him: “Since it is a matter required by law, we must be diligent in carrying out the exercise.
“The members of the committee have done excellently well.
“I have insisted, on several occasions, that the committee in charge go through due process, which they have done and I assure you all that they will continue to go through the due process,”
The Deputy Controller, Nigeria Correctional Services (NCS), Lagos Command, DCC Comfort Obiosio, represented the Controller of NCS, Lagos, Mr Ben Freedman.
Obiosio, in her address, revealed that almost nine thousand inmates were in the three correctional centres in the state.
She urged the Chief Judge to use his good offices to see that privileges were given to some remorseful inmates in order to decongest the correctional centres.
“We have almost nine thousand locked up in Lagos and we hope the CJ uses his good offices to free those qualified and decongest the facilities,” Obiosio said.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Police, CP Idowu Owohunwa, represented by the Deputy Commissioner for Police, DCP Waheed Ayilara, said that the Nigeria Police as a partner in the justice system, would continue to ensure due process and the exercise should be a continuous one in order to curb the shortfall as maximum capacity was about 1, 500.
“We can not continue to keep the nine thousand inmates as it is highly unbearable.
“Those who are about to get freedom today must have learned one or two lessons.
“Being in correctional centres does not mean you can not be re-integrated back into society
“The police will continue to be diligent in their investigation in order to help with the decongestion,” Ayilara said.
Eighteen-Eleven Media