*Pushes for Pardons Instead of Fine Payment for Prisoners
*Calls for Release of Ikoyi Inmates on #EndSARS Anniversary
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Prominent civil rights lawyer, Femi Falana SAN, has called on the Minister of Interior, Honourable Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, to review his recently announced plan to pay the fines of 4,000 prison inmates as a means of decongesting Nigeria’s overcrowded correctional facilities.
In a statement released today, Falana praised the Minister’s initiative to alleviate prison overcrowding but recommended that the N500 million budgeted for fine payments would be better spent improving inmate welfare.
Instead, the human rights lawyer proposed that the Minister request presidential and gubernatorial pardons on humanitarian grounds for the 4,000 affected inmates unable to pay their fines. This measure would secure their immediate release.
Falana noted that a similar Covid-19 decongestion effort ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2020 had released over 7,800 inmates through amnesty.
The statement also called on the Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chief Judges nationwide to exercise their legal authority and order the release of detainees held unlawfully beyond the maximum sentences for their alleged crimes.
However, Falana highlighted the particular plight of inmates awaiting trial at Ikoyi Prison, where case files were destroyed in the 2020 #EndSARS protests. With no records to prosecute these detainees, he urged the Interior Minister to facilitate their unconditional release on this three-year anniversary of the demonstrations.
In conclusion, the veteran activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria maintained that while reducing prison populations is a laudable goal, more emphasis must be placed on protecting inmate welfare and upholding the fundamental human rights of detainees through lawful release procedures.
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