Ogun CJ frees 20 inmates

Ogun State Chief Judge, Justice Mosunmola Dipeolu, on Wednesday granted amnesty to 20 inmates in five Correctional Service Centres as part of effort to decongest prison formations across the state.

Dipeolu granted the amnesty during a jail delivery exercise held at the State High Court Complex, Kobape in Abeokuta.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that five inmates were released from the New Abeokuta Correctional Centre in Oba, five in Ibara and seven in Ilaro.

One inmate was also released from Sagamu Correctional Centre and another two from the Ijebu-Ode Centre respectively.

Dipeolu, who noted that the jail delivery exercise was to decongest the prison, said the inmates released have been in custody for many years.

The chief judge explained that the inmates committed different offences ranging from rape, armed robbery and kidnapping among others.

“The Judiciary is trying its best to decongest the prisons, that is why more judges have been appointed to ensure quick and fast dispensation of justice.

“People keep filing cases as they are aware of their rights, which is the more reason why we keep increasing number of judges as much as the state can afford.

“We also keep having sensitisation programmes for people to know their rights as justice delayed is not what we want in the state,” she said.

Dipeolu, however, admonished the freed inmates to make the best use of the amnesty by shunning crime and criminal activities capable of bringing them back to prison.

The State Comptroller of Nigeria Correctional Service, Mr Alimi Rasheed, said the Federal Government had improved the infrastructure and logistic of the correctional centres.

Rasheed commended the State Government’s efforts at ensuring quick dispensation of justice to ensure that people were not denied of their rights as citizens.

He commended the chief judge for the gesture saying that the exercise was part of ways to decongest the prisons.

He, however, urged the freed inmates to be law abiding as they go out and contribute their quota to the development of the society.

Earlier, Mr Hezekiah Olujobi, Executive Director, Centre for Justice and Reconciliation, an NGO, commended the chief judge for embarking on the jail delivery exercise. (NAN)