President Muhammadu Buhari has granted pardon to Ambrose
Alli, a former governor of Bendel state, and Anthony Enahoro, a nationalist who
moved the motion for Nigeria’s independence.
Also pardoned were Moses Effiong, a retired colonel; EJ
Olanrewaju, a retired major; and Ajayi Olusola Babalola.
Rauf Aregbesola, minister of interior, announced the pardon
at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday.
He also said Buhari had approved amnesty for 2,600 inmates
across various custodial centres in the country.
The minister, however, said the president’s amnesty will not
apply to inmates sentenced for violent extreme offences such as terrorism,
kidnapping, armed banditry, rape, human trafficking, culpable homicide, among
others.
Speaking at the briefing, Abubakar Malami, attorney-general
of the federation, said 39 of the inmates were granted clemency – four of which
are at the Kuje Custodial Centre.
Malami said the government’s action was in line with the
advice of the UN which called on countries of the world to reduce the
population of prisons so as to encourage social distancing.
Ja’afaru Ahmed, controller-general of the Nigeria
Correctional Service, said there are 73,756 inmates in custodial centres all
over the country, with 51,983 of them on the awaiting trial list.
In 1994, the regime of Sani Abacha, a military dictator, had
jailed Enahoro for leading the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO).
The military regime of Buhari had sentenced Alli to 100
years in prison for allegedly misappropriating funds for a road project.
While Effiong was convicted and sentenced to life
imprisonment for alleged concealment of treason in the coup led Maman Vatsa
allegedly led against Ibrahim Babaginda, a former military president, in 1986.
He was later released in 1993.
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