In line with the cardinal agenda of the Ogun State Chief Judge, Hon. Justice (Dr.) Mosunmola Dipeolu, FICMC, FHNR to decongest the Correctional Centres across the State, his Lordship has stressed the need for the expansion of all Correctional Centres to ease decongestion.
The Chief Judge who made the call during his Lordship’s periodic Jail Delivery exercise held on Monday, 17th July, 2023 at the State Judiciary Complex in Abeokuta, granted amnesty to a total of seven awaiting trials inmates from various prison formations in the State.
The inmates who were freed from Ibara, Ilaro and Oba Correctional Centres were admonished by the Chief Judge, to make themselves useful and law abiding as they were released from confinement.
In the words of Hon. Justice Dipeolu, “Some of the freed inmates who were accused for armed robbery, unlawful killing, and murder have to be released due to no information on the inmates from the Ministry of Justice, witnesses not appearing before the court, files not traced, no record from the police, and we cannot keep on holding them back in the prison”.
The Chief Judge who also promised to continue holding Jail Delivery exercises as may be necessary, named the free inmates to include, Adebayo Sodiq, Azeez Rasaq, Tunde Abiodun, Azeez Hassan, Uchechukwu Innocent, Musibau Ademola and Akinbola Wasiu.
In the same vein, the Ogun State Deputy Comptroller of Correctional Centres, Mr James Ogunmodede who appreciated the State Chief Judge for His Lordship’s passionate gesture, said this would serve as speedy way of decongesting the Correctional Centres across the State.
The Executive Director of the Centre for Justice, Mercy and Reconciliation, Pastor Hezekiah Olujobi, described the regular Jail Delivery exercises by the Hon. Chief Judge as a good gesture to humanity.
He added that “Our NGO has been looking at cases that are lumped together, to ensure thorough investigations on how they might have been unlawfully remanded in custody, which leads to wrongful conviction and miscarriage of justice”.