TheCable

The Bauchi state government has pardoned 153 inmates with minor offences, serving various jail terms at different correctional facilities across the state

Bala Mohammed, the state governor, disclosed this at the executive pardon ceremony on Friday.

The governor said each of the 153 inmates would be given the sum of N50,000 — totalling N7.6 million as capital — to help them start up small businesses upon arrival in their various communities.

According to him, the development followed due consultations with the state council on the prerogative of mercy.

“We are providing each and every freed inmate the sum of N50,000 to start a small business with a view to making them self-reliant,” he said.

“We believe that empowering the poor economically is one of the best ways to ensure peace, security and crime prevention.

“Similarly, the fines and penalties of the affected inmates have been fully settled to facilitate their immediate release from the various correctional services.”

The governor said the fines and penalties for the pardoned inmates ranged from a minimum of N5,000 to a maximum of N30,000

He added that the total amount of the fines and penalties of the inmates stood at N1.2 million which, he said, was paid from his personal pocket.

“That is why it is easy for any public-spirited individual to pay because all their fines range from N5,000, N8,000, N10,000 and the highest being N30,000. This is very incredible,” he said.

“The men that I will be pardoning today, are of no use to their society if they are left languishing alongside hardened criminals.

“I will be pardoning them with the expectation that they would go back and be an asset to their communities and work to support their families, our beloved state and nation.”

He, however, implored the pardoned inmates to be law-abiding citizens and engage in legitimate endeavours by taking advantage of the various empowerment windows provided by his administration.

Also speaking, Rabi Umar, Bauchi state chief judge, said the executive pardon is the exclusive power of the governor.

Umar said the gesture would go a long way in decongesting the correctional facilities in the state.

On his part, Abubakar Mohammed, chairman of the state council on the prerogative of mercy, said the executive pardon was done in line with the nation’s constitutional provisions.

Mohammed, who is also the state’s attorney-general and commissioner for justice, added that the conduct of the exercise was carried out in line with laid down rules and procedures governing pardon.