…Masari frees 61 in Katsina

From Desmond Mgboh, Kano and Agaju Madugba, Katsina

Kano State Government, yesterday, disclosed it has decided to grant official pardon to 500 prisons inmates, in the spirit of the Eid el-fitr celebration.

Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje disclosed this at Kano Central Prison, Kurmawa, in the state capital, when he addressed some of the convicts, shortly after the Eid prayer.

The governor was accompanied to the prison by the Minister of Interior, Lt. Gen. A.B. Dambazau (rtd), and he explained that a “committee of officials of the state government and the state Command of Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS)have already been mandated to produce names of deserving inmates, within the next two weeks.”

Ganduje also explained that “200 of the prisoners who would be pardoned would come from the state Central Prison while the remaining 300 would come from Goron Dutse Prisons, and other satellite prisons in the state.”

He stressed that even though many of the prisoners had shown repentance and had changed positively in terms of their behaviour, there are procedures and processes that would warrant their consideration for pardon.

Regarding the issue of condemned prisoners, those on life imprisonment and those with many years in prison without conviction, the governor assured that a committee would be set up to review their cases and make recommendations to the government, for possible review of their punishments. The committee would submit its reports in two weeks, he stated.

Dr. Ganduje seized the occasion to formally declare 50 persons free, who were earlier on, granted amnesty, during the state’s 50th anniversary celebrations in  May. He said all of them would be given transport fare to their various destinations.

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In his remarks, Dambazau  commended the state government for providing land to the NPS, to enable it build a 3, 000 inmate capacity prison in the state.

He charged the freed prisoners to “go back to the society and engage in legitimate activities,” and warned that if they revert to crime, chances are that if apprehended, they would not come out of prison again.

He, however, asked the government to work with the NPS, in the proposed co-location of prisons and courts, to ease the problem of conveyance of prisoners to courts, as well as to support the state command towards the success of its on-going skills acquisition centre project, at Kurmawa Prison.

In his address , Commissioner for Justice, Haruna M.N. Falali, explained that since inception two years ago, the Ganduje administration has granted amnesty to over 3, 000 prisoners, assuring that the government would not relent in pardoning truly reformed prisoners.

In a related develoment, Katsina State Governor, Aminu Bello Masari has paid fines for 61 prison inmates serving at various prison facilities across the state.

This singular government gesture enabled the inmates  to regain their freedom and celebrated the Eid-el-Fitr with their families.

A statement by the governor’s Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Abdu Labaran Malunfashi, yesterday, said Masari paid N3,666,000 to secure the release of the beneficiaries.

The statement noted that the inmates were drawn from various prisons across the state, with 13 each from Katsina and Funtua, nine from Daura, seven from Dutsinma, four each from Kankia and Jibia and three each from Malumfashi and Mani.