On Thursday, the Nigerian Correctional Service pardoned at least 30 of the 40 inmates listed for a state pardon from their detention in Lagos and Ogun. The Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Kazeem Alogba, pardoned and re-integrated them into society.
The prisoners received pardons at an open court proceeding presided over by Justice Alogba on the grounds of the Lagos State Magistrates’ Court in Ogba.
Four youths from the Borstal Training Institution in Adigbe, Abeokuta, Ogun State, were among those who were granted their freedom back.
Other inmates at the Kirikiri and Ikoyi Correctional Facilities were also freed.
Some pardoned prisoners had been incarcerated since 2013, according to NCS statistics.
Justice Alogba noted that the pardons were granted by Section 1(1) of the Criminal Justice Release from Custody Act, Cap. C40, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2007, and Section 377(c) of the Administration of Criminal Justice (Amendment) Law 2021, as part of the Decongestion of the Custodial Centres Exercise 2023.
To prevent the prisoners from doing more time in jail than they would have been found guilty, Justice Alogba indicated that the exercise was carried out.
“It is for this reason and so many other reasons that the exercise is put up and this is the reason the exercise doesn’t hold too frequently.
“Cases are not going on in courts not because the magistrates or judges are not upright in their duties but because of failure as a result of hitches in the course of prosecuting offenders.
“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 fulfillment of requisites, before it could be embarked upon,” the Chief Judge stated.
He advised the released prisoners to “go and sin no more.”
cc: Punch Ng
