1st January, 2021
By Muhaimin Olowoporoku
Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai has exercised his prerogative of mercy and ordered the release of 12 convicts to celebrate the New Year.
In a statement by the governor’s Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Mr. Muyiwa Adekeye, 10 out of the pardoned criminals had six months or less to serve. The other two pardoned inmates were released on age ground.
One of the released prisoners, Tunde Ikuenaya was imprisoned on November 16, 2017, for four years. The 64-year-old was imprisoned for criminal misappropriation and would be released on March 16, 2021, Adekeye noted.
Other pardoned prisoners are, Ifeanyi Chiebuike Nweke, Mohammed Mamman Santare, and Samaila Danjuma. They were convicted and sentenced at various times for culpable homicide, the statement revealed.
Governor el-Rufai also commuted Joshua Yashim’s death sentence to life imprisonment according to Adekeye’s statement. Yashim was to be executed by hanging for culpable homicide on June 9, 2011.