Articles & News

August 12, 2008

Nigerian judge summarily releases 10 prison inmates

Tide News

Abia State Chief Judge Sunday Imo has released 10 inmates, including an 18 year-old girl, unconditionally from Aba Prison during a jail delivery.

Imo said that the lucky inmates had spent more days in detention than they would have done if they were convicted for the alleged offences.

The chief judge also granted bail to 19 persons and ordered the courts to conclude the cases of five detainees before the end of the year.

Six persons got dates for the hearing of their cases.

Addressing the inmates at the end of the exercise, Imo enjoined them to “make up their minds to be better citizens”, adding that the judiciary wou1d do its best to help them.

He remarked that the youthful inmates had denied themselves of the bountiful opportunities to contribute their quota in nation building.

“God has a plan, a future and destiny for you and nobody can take it from you. But God does not associate Himself with crime.

“There are so many opportunities in the country for you to become useful citizens. We are already getting old but you have to be of good behaviour to take over from us to make Nigeria better,” he added.

In an interview with newsmen the Assistant Controller of Prisons, Mr. Boniface Ogbodo, commended the federal government for the improvement of prisons in the country.

Ogbodo said that the Aba prison had been provided with the necessary facilities, including cutlery, cooking utensils, toiletries and a generator, adding that inmates were also well fed.

He described the rusty roofed buildings, which were constructed with mud-walls, as archaic and dilapidated, saying they were due for complete renovation.

Ogbodo said that the prison, which had a capacity for 500 inmates, accommodated 450 inmates. “It is no longer congested,” he said.