Fourteen inmates of the Maximum Security Prison, Kirikiri, who have been behind bars for over 20 years are to breathe the air of freedom courtesy of pardon granted them by the Lagos State Government.
The government, through the Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy, on Friday pronounced the inmates free to go and commuted the death sentences handed to 20 others to life imprisonment.
The release order for the inmates was signed by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode.
According to the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, SAN, who handed over the Order to the prison authorities, the decision was pursuant to constitutional provision which allows for an Advisory Council and grants the Governor power to grant clemency to convicted persons on the advice of the Council.
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He said: ”Prerogative of Mercy is a right recognised under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended); Section 212(2) of the Constitution provides that the powers conferred on the Governor under Section 212(1) shall be exercised by him after consultation with the Advisory Council of the State on the Prerogative of Mercy as may be established by the law of the State.”
He explained that the beneficiaries of the mercy had been investigated and found to have been reformed and ready for re-integration into the society.
Kazeem, while congratulating the freed inmates urged them to be of good conduct outside the prison and refrain from acts that would return them to the walls of the prison.
