As part of activities to mark the celebration of June 12, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, on Thursday, pardoned 13 inmates of the Nigerian Correctional Center in the state.
Apart from this, the governor also ordered commuted ten inmates on death row to life imprisonment while five inmates on life imprisonment were commuted to various terms of imprisonment.
This was contained in a statement issued and signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr Segun Ajiboye, who said the governor exercise the powers by Paragraph (d) of sub-section (1) of Section 212 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended.
Ajiboye stated in the statement that “In exercise of the powers conferred on him Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, has granted amnesty to 28 inmates of the Federal Correctional Custodial Centres.
“This gesture is in commemoration of this year’s Democracy Day on June 12, 2020.
“In a letter addressed to the Controller of Nigerian Correctional Service, State Headquarters, Federal Secretariat Complex, Akure, Governor Akeredolu ordered that 13 of the inmates be discharged out of the facility accordingly and forthwith, while ten on death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment and five on life imprisonment were commuted to various terms of imprisonment.
“The 13 inmates serving various terms of imprisonment were pardoned having served substantial portions of their sentences”
The statement read further, “In the same vein, the ten condemned inmates had been duly convicted and sentenced to death by hanging, while five were equally, duly convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The governor advised the pardoned inmates to make good use of the opportunity offered them by their release to turn a new leaf and should abstain from a life of crime.