15th February, 2012
The Chief Judge of Ogun State, Justice Olatokunbo Olopade, has freed 47 prison inmates in the last one week, according to the Chief Registrar of the state’s High Court, Mr. Sikiru Owodunni.
Owodunni told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abeokuta on Tuesday that the exercise began on February 7 and February 14 and the released inmates were drawn from Abeokuta, Ilaro, Sagamu and Ijebu-Ode.
She said the judge made the release after a scrutiny of the list of the prisoners and their different case files as submitted by the prisons services.
He said some of the inmates were charged for offences ranging from murder, robbery, stealing, kidnapping and unlawful carnal knowledge among others.
“It will interest you to know that some of them have served almost double their jail term if they had been convicted for the alleged offences,” he stated.
According to him, some of them are just languishing in prison for years without any evidence or proper trial against them for the crime they are alleged to have committed.
“It is a quarterly affair, by next quarter; the Chief Judge will carry out the release of another group of these inmates to decongest the prison,“ Owodunni added.