Niger State Chief Judge, Justice Halima Ibrahim Abdulmalik, has discharged Abubakar Umar, 20, from the Nigerian Correctional Service Medium Security Custodial Centre, Suleja.
Justice Halima discharged the inmate during the 2024 Honourable Chief Judge's Custodial Centre Visit when she paid a special visit to the Suleja Custodial Centre, Suleja.
The inmate who was fortunate to be discharged out of the 447 inmates at the custodial centre had been in custody for a year without trial.
Justice Halima urged the discharged inmate, who was shading tears of joy, to be of good character and desist from action that would bring him back to the custodial centre.
Also, five other inmates—Abubakar Sani, Usman Falalu, Mohammed Sani Haruna, Mohammed Sani, and Blessing Omeka—were granted access to bail should they meet the demands, and they were expected to report to court on a monthly basis.
Earlier, on arrival at the Suleja Custodial Centre, Justice Halima said that the exercise was a periodic one aimed at decongesting the centre.
She expressed satisfaction with the lower number of inmates at the correctional centre and assured that the judiciary will continue to adopt the non-custodial punitive measures on cases brought before it.
While receiving the Chief Judge, Controller Francis John commended Justice Halima for the visit, as it will help in decongesting the custodial centre.
He assured the CJ that they were in partnership with the courts as they were duty-bound to interpret the decisions of the courts.