The Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory, Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf, has discharged no fewer than 35 inmates awaiting trial across the two custodial centres in the Keffi Local Government Area of Nasarawa State
Punch correspondent reports that Baba-Yusuf discharged the inmates during a visit to the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Keffi on Tuesday.
The intervention facilitated by the Public and Private Development Centre, a Non-Governmental Organisation, saw to the release of the 35 inmates, who included 33 males and two females.
One of the males, Mohammed Abdullahi, was discharged after being incarcerated for a year without a single appearance in any court in Nigeria.
In an interview with newsmen shortly after the exercise, the Chief Judge said the essence of the prison visit was to ensure that those who are not supposed to be in the facility are allowed to go free.
“Today, we have been able to set free 35 people who have no business being here, and that is a huge boost,” he said.
He explained that the exercise would be a routine one to ensure that people are not allowed to suffer unnecessarily in custody when they should not be there.
Baba-Yusuf said, “Some of those we have set free are those who are not well, people who have been here unnecessarily for a long time and people who have not been cited for any genuine offence.
“This will continue to be a routine thing to ensure that the rights of our citizens are guaranteed and well catered for.”
He also noted that all other inmates facing one delay or the other in the conclusion of their cases have been assured that their cases will be attended to, and new dates given to them to appear in court.
“We have rectified all that, and dates have been given to all those who are involved in that category. I have also given directive to the Director in charge of the magistrates to do oversight functions on some of these courts whenever the matters come to the courts so that we ensure that the proceedings of the courts runs smoothly.
“Magistrates handling cases in the FCT courts have also been chastised to improve on case management strategy so that trials of the cases run expeditiously and inmates are able to know their fate,” the Chief Judge added.
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