The Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf, has discharged at least 30 inmates awaiting trial across the two custodial centres in the Keffi Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
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The intervention was facilitated by the Public and Private Development Centre, a non-governmental organisation, in collaboration with Baba-Yusuf, who discharged the inmates during an official visit to the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Keffi on Thursday.
Our correspondent reports that out of the 30 inmates discharged, 24 were from the Keffi Medium Security Custodial Centre, while 6 others, who are females, were from the Keffi Old Medium Security Custodial Centre.
Speaking with newsmen at the end of the visit, Baba-Yusuf said the visit was aimed at ensuring that those who do not deserve to be behind bars are allowed to enjoy their freedom.
“We have decided to give hope to the hopeless. There are a lot of people who shouldn’t be here in the first place.
“So this visit is to ensure that people who have no business being here are not kept behind doors, not even for one day. That is what we have done,” he said.
He assured that the exercise will be a continuous one with visits also scheduled for the Kuje and Suleja custodial centres to ensure that those who shouldn’t be detained in the correctional centres are set free.
Baba-Yusuf blamed the congestion in the custodial centres and incarceration of those inmates who should not have been incarcerated in the first place on different factors.
“The predicament of these types of inmates has been caused by the laxity of the deciding magistrates, the police and probably the challenges of the correctional centres, which are not properly equipped with a lot of logistics support that they need to bring inmates to court regularly.
“So, it is good that they are encouraged with facilities to enable them to deliver on their mandate.
“By that, we will quicken the dispensation of justice and eradicate this incident of people being kept in custody when they are supposed to be walking freely and breathing free air,” he said.
Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer, Public and Private Development Centre, Lucy Abagi, expressed her organisation’s determination and commitment to ensure that custodial centres across the country are decongested.
She further commended the FCT Chief Judge for finding time to visit Keffi to discharge inmates who she said should not have been incarcerated in the first place.
“We saw people who have been here and granted bail but could not afford as low as N20,000. We saw people who have been here due to Gender Based Violence.
“Women have been here because they have been abused and they said no to the abuse, but the complainants wanted to punish them for saying no to them, and they have been here for weeks, months and years, which is against the law.
“Our goal here is to ensure that people who do not deserve to be here are out, and the fact that the FCT Chief Judge came himself means we are moving in the right direction.
“I am hoping that other Chief Judges will also carry out this exercise across the states,” she said.
In another interview, the Chairperson of the International Federation of Women Lawyers, Abuja, Chioma Onyenucheya-Uko, bemoaned the incarceration of the discharged women and assured that her organisation will intensify enlightenment to women to enable them to know their rights.
“One of the things I saw concerning those women’s cases was a seeming abuse of power by persons who had the influence and think they have the wherewithal to unleash the law ferociously and even wrongly against those women.
“You could see that many of them have not been convicted of anything. They were awaiting trial.
“This is why we try to enlighten women on their rights. When they know what their rights are, some of them will be able to brief a lawyer when those things are happening.
“They can come to FIDA and make a complaint,” she said.
Earlier in his welcome remark, Controller of the Keffi Medium Security Custodial Centre, Yau Ibrahim, appreciated the FCT Chief Judge and his entourage for the visit, and noted that the intention of the visit was in line with the desire of the correctional officers to see the correction centres decongested.
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