Niger State Chief Judge, Justice Halima Ibrahim Abdulmalik, has charged all relevant stakeholders to, as a matter of urgency, expedite action in handling cases in the various courts.
Justice Halima stated this when she paid a visit to the New Medium Security and Correctional Centre, Minna, as part of the 2024 Chief Judges' Visit to Custodial Centres in the state.
She said that the lives of the people in detention were important and at stake, and there was a need to give them fair and quick trials.
According to her, the situation of missing case files and their duplicates was making the court release inmates awaiting trials unnecessarily.
Therefore, she directed that there should be synergy between the legal department of the police, the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), and the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) in the Ministry of Justice to ensure that they tie up their documents for quick administration of justice.
During the visit, six inmates serving various jail terms were pardoned and released based on a recommendation of their remorsefulness and good character.
She charged them to desist from wrongdoing that would return them to jail.
Also, some inmates were given bail and will continue to appear in court until their judgement is delivered, while others were discharged for lack of proof to continue with their cases.
In continuation of her 2024 visits to decongest custodial facilities across the state, no fewer than 12 inmates were freed by the Chief Judge of Niger State, Justice Halima Ibrahim Abdulmalik.
Five of the inmates who had been convicted and were serving various jail terms at the Minna Old Medium Security Custodial Centre were pardoned by the chief judge based on their good conduct, show of remorsefulness, and having served a reasonable period of their sentences.
The CJ said the pardoned inmates were released based on the term served and their good character.
She urged them to see that the jail term served as a lesson to live a good life and desist from any activities that would bring them back to the correctional centre.
Also speaking, Controller Correction, Mohammed Isah Hamisu, said that they monitored the activities of the pardoned inmates who showed hard work and remorsefulness and, as such, recommended their pardon.
He urged them not to disappoint them by committing offences that would bring them back to jail.
Mohammed Sani Yakubu, jailed for four years, had served two years; Zulai Danjuma was jailed for two years and has served one year; Kabiru Mohammed and Abubakar Musa, jailed for three years, had served two years and six months; and Yusuf Anas, jailed for one year, had served for nine months.
Seven other inmates were discharged for lack of evidence to continue with their cases.
The discharged inmates were Ibrahim Ndazo, Abdullahi Umar, Isah Abdullahi, Bilyanu Saidu, Ibrahim Mohammed Auta, Umar Abubakar, and Abdullahi Abubakar.
The pardoned and the discharged inmates were grateful to the CJ, as some of them could not hold back their tears and promised to be of good conduct.
