Kwara State Criminal Justice Committee organised a prison decongestion exercise which gave some prisoners freedom.
Among the thirteen prisoners to regain freedom from the Oke-Kura, Ilorin prisons in the state on Monday February 17th 2014 was 16-year-old JSSII pupil of Dada Junior Secondary School, Jomoh Abubakir.
Abubakir was arrested by the police last month, while on his way to buy garri. The policemen drafted to quell a riot in Ilorin, which had claimed the life of one policeman, had allegedly carried out indiscriminate arrests, of which Abubakir was a victim.
Punch reports:
Other beneficiaries of the exercise include 56-year-old Kehinde Aremu and 20-year-old Muslimat Ajoke, arrested for allegedly committing adultery.
Ajoke, on her part, was said to have married in an Islamic way to Harun Jamiu and had reportedly bore him two children.
However, upon the birth of her third child, another man, identified simply as Kaniyu, allegedly came forward to claim ownership of the child.
Aremu, who was allegedly detained for attempting to invoke juju, however, denied the offence, adding that he was framed up.
The Chief Judge of Kwara State, Justice Ayinla Bamigbola, who is also the head of the Kwara State Criminal Justice Committee, said the prison decongestion was in compliance with the law.
He said, “The law is there and we have followed the law which says that if we discover that anybody is in prison unlawfully, we are bound to release such person.
“Also, if there is someone who has spent the same time he would have spent had he been convicted, we are bound to release such a person under the law.”
Bamigbola said Abubakir was released because he was under-aged and that the offence for which Aremu was detained was not known to the law. He cautioned all the released persons to be of good behaviour and avoid any unlawful act.
He added, “We saw that the warrant by which they were brought did not disclose any offence known to law. That is why we said they should be released.
“On the woman who was accused of adultery, we found out that the offence, according to the prosecution, was a civil one. They have not established adultery against her. They said that one husband just complained that she went away with another husband. That is not why she should be in detention for more than three months now.
“She was released to go to a civil court. If they have any matter against her, it can be done without her being incarcerated in prison custody.”
The Controller, the Nigerian Prisons Service, Kwara State Command, Mr. Adebiyi Ayokambi, praised the exercise. He said, “The police should equally live up to their responsibilities by making sure that cases that are supposed to be disposed within a month or two are not left untouched.”
