Kano Chief Judge Pardons 13 Inmates

Kano State Chief Judge, Dije Aboki, on Wednesday, granted pardon to 13 inmates from three correctional facilities.

The pardoned inmates include some from a children’s remand home in the state.

The judge freed the inmates when she led other judges, magistrates, police prosecutors, other lawyers and court officials on a two-day visit to the correctional facilities – Goron Dutse, Kurmawa, and Children Remand Home.

The spokesperson for the state’s judiciary, Baba Jibo, in a statement late Wednesday, said the Chief Judge’s decision was backed by sections 1 and 2 of the Release From Custody (Special Provisions Act) 1977.

He said all the 13 inmates had their cases reviewed during the visit by the Chief Judge before they were set free.

He said the decision was also an effort to decongest the correctional facilities filled up by those awaiting trials and inmates who committed minor offences.

“The law permits her to consider inmates who have overstayed in the facility without their case being mentioned, those who are sick and the older person (s).

“With the two-day visit, the Chief Judge of Kano State, Deji Aboki has released 13 inmates who have committed various minor offences. She also directed magistrates to grant bail to other detainees or give them an accelerated hearing, Mr Jibo said.

In the statement, Mr Jibo identified one of the freed inmates as Sabiu Miko, who narrated how he was arrested and remanded in the correctional facility in the last two years following an accusation of tricycle theft.

Mr Miko said he confessed to the crime in the police facility under duress.
“Subsequently, I randomly fingered one other person I claimed to have sold the tricycle to after the police investigators compelled me and took me out to identify my accomplice,” Mr Miko said in a voice recording shared with our reporter by the judiciary’s spokesperson.

He commended the chief judge for her kind gesture for freeing him from the prison.

Culled from Premium Times