The Nation Newspaper

Tag: prisoners

  • Nigeria’s exotic prisoners

    Nigeria’s exotic prisoners

    Sir: It has taken only a phone recording released in the heat of an extra-legal debt recovery for Nigerians to confirm what they had long suspected: that the dilapidated and squalid correctional facilities in the country are reserved only for the poor, never for the highly connected.

    Between Idris Okuneye (Bobrisky), Martins Vincent Otse(Very Dark man) and an unnamed but clearly aggrieved creditor, it has emerged that Bobrisky’s six-month jail term for Naira abuse, repeatedly served in Kirikiri correctional facility in Lagos was rather a vacation spent in a cosy apartment.

    The damning revelations which have prompted the Minister of Interior to wield the axe on some officials confirm two things. First is that corruption affects every aspect of life in Nigeria and secondly, there is nothing connections cannot influence in the country.

    The conditions of Nigerian prisons are a well-known fact. The name change from prison to correctional facility affected in was only a minor blip in the blizzard of squalor and sleaze affecting Nigerian prisons.

    Hygiene is poor in many of the prisons as is feeding. Rehabilitation is almost impossible, as many of the inmates leave the prisons worse than when they entered.

    Many of the prisons remain insecure and dilapidated.  In April 2024,when the skies let loose in Suleja, Niger State, parts of the  Medium Security Custodial Centre, collapsed unleashing dozens of  dangerous criminals into the society.

    In June 2022 terrorists stormed the minimum security prison in June, releasing some high-profile terrorists into the society. As a result of poor security, there have been other prison breaks around prisons in the country. In some instances where there has been no break, nature has wreaked havoc on poorly maintained structures, thereby greatly compromising the security of Nigerians in their communities.

    The Nigerian Correctional Service is a key part of Nigeria’s criminal justice system. It is a penal set-up meant to ensure that those convicted of grave violations of the law are temporarily separated from the society and provided the opportunity to be sufficiently reformed and rehabilitated before they are reintroduced and reintegrated into the society.  Historically, the objective of correctional service has always been noble, it is in how these objectives are implemented that has always posed very seriously challenges from which it is clear that Nigeria’s overcrowded prisons leave very little room for meaning reforms.

    Over the years, Nigeria has grappled with the tragedy of awaiting trial inmates who end up spending more years than they would even if they are convicted of the crimes they are accused of.

    Read Also: Tinubu’s rumoured cabinet reshuffle ray of hope for Nigeria – Pharm Klinsmann

    Public officers in Nigeria like to boast that obedience to the rule of law is paramount. However, experience shows that the reverse is the case. It is common knowledge that many powerful people in Nigeria break the law at will, then deploy all their resources to prevent accountability for their infractions. That appears to be what Bobrisky did in allegedly spending his jail term in an apartment rather than in a correctional service. This he did no doubt by compromising some prison officers.

    Given what has so far spilled into the public space, there is no telling the corners cut inside Nigerian prisons or in other state agencies. From the escapades of Bobrisky who called in favours to ensure that he was stationed far away from the squalor of the prison, it can be deduced that many other high-profile Nigerians who had cause to do time either did not do their time at all or were quartered in some expensively appointed accommodations while Nigerians and the courts which sentenced them thought they were doing time.

    It appears that there is no end in sight to the rot seeping into various institutions of the Nigerian state. As long as this is the case, transparency and   accountability will continue to elude the country. The chaotic consequences will surely be there for all to see.

    • Ike Willie-Nwobu,Ikewilly9@gmail.com

  • Prisoners’ menu protest

    Prisoners’ menu protest

    • The issue goes beyond menu change

    It was the colonial masters that established formal prisons in Nigeria in 1861, following the declaration of Lagos as a colony. That was the beginning of the institutionalisation of formal system of governance aimed at maintaining law and order, and instituting punishment models for disobedience of colonial laws.

    However, as the population grew, and with Nigeria’s independence in 1960, most colonial institutions in the country began to change. Somehow, crime and criminality began to increase, given the changing societal dynamics influenced by socio-economic and political issues. These in some ways created many social deviants and more prisons.

    However, unlike in the United States where there are different prisons for state and federal offences, Nigeria has only federal prisons where both convicted and ‘awaiting’ trial persons are kept.

    Due to the systemic dysfunction in most sectors, the judicial speed in disposing of cases has not matched international standards, giving rise to serious congestion in prisons across the country. This comes with many side effects — overstretched infrastructure, overcrowding, sexual assaults, insecurity, depression and self-inflicted wounds.

    There have been more prison breaks in recent times and most of the escapees are often not re-arrested. 

    The Muhammadu Buhari administration changed the Nigerian Prisons Service to the Nigerian Correctional Service on August 15, 2019, after signing the Nigerian Correctional Service Act of 2019 into law. In the real sense, the change has been only in name; not much has changed in the administration of the correctional centres. The ‘correctional’ aspect remains a mirage as the inmates even have more violations of their human and constitutional rights by the state that is supposed to protect them. Many die out of lack of proper care in the correctional centres as there are often no effective health centres; facilities are poor even as the centres have become fertile grounds for the spreading of diseases, depression and sexual offences.

    About a year ago, the oldest prisoner in the country, Pa Egbunuche, who was condemned to death since 2001 with his son for murder died after an agency intervened for him to be released for treatment outside the correctional centre, due to his illness and old age.

    The story of late Pa Egbunuche is a metaphor for the average inmate in Nigerian Correctional Centres. Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison was built in 1955 with an initial capacity of 1,056 inmates. As of February 12, 2018, 69% of the prison’s population were awaiting trial, according to data from the Nigeria Prisons Service. So the judicial system has been such that justice is often delayed and some innocent people are often incarcerated for long and some others spend more time awaiting trial than they would have were they convicted for the alleged crimes.

    Read Also: NAFDAC shuts down 10 substandard bakeries, eight water factories in Rivers

    So, recently when some prisoners in Jos, Plateau State, protested that due to the socio-economic condition of the country, they are now to be served rice twice a week as against the former four times, it was obvious that there were other triggers before the announcement. They reportedly had been expecting increase in the food they were being served before as promised, but instead, were informed of the change in menu plan.

    While we feel that the announced change is not in any way harmful to the prisoners, we want the government to realise that the protest was a symptom of something deeper than the menu change. The conditions at the centres are terrible. It is also a pointer to how Nigeria sees the institution that is supposed to be ‘correctional’ in all respects. The fact that the inmates, when released, or when they escape during jail breaks, come out more violent and more hardened than before shows the system isn’t correctional in the real sense.

    Governments must embark on prison reforms in line with global standards. Correctional centres must be true in form and operations so that the inmates would live dignified lives in the long term, in or out of prison. They have constitutional/human rights that must be respected too. An oppressed inmate is a danger to the society, inside or outside jail.

  • Edo grants clemency, parole to 84 prisoners

    The Edo State Government has granted clemency and parole to 84 inmates in various prison formations in the state, in alignment with the Federal Government’s commitment to decongest prisons across the country.

    Edo State Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Prof. Yinka Omorogbe, said the move has the backing of Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Salihu Isah, with the aim of tackling overcrowding in Nigerian Prisons.

    Prof. Omorogbe said the state government in conjunction with the Attorney General of the Federation and a donor agency raised the sum N9 million to secure the release of the prisoners, who could not meet their bail conditions due to their lowly status.

    READ ALSO: Edo LG IGR hits N210m

    According to her: “the high number of inmates awaiting trial for crimes ranging from stealing, breaking and entering and other minor offenses, are the major causes of overcrowding. The state government is working hard to decongest and improve the living condition of prisoners as well as ensure proper rehabilitation of the inmates.

    Edo State Controller of Prisons, Mr. Joseph Esu Usendiah, said 23 inmates were being released from the Benin prisons, while 61 inmates are to be released across the various prisons in Edo state, bringing the total number of those affected to 84.

     He said the move will help decongest the already overcrowded prisons, as it would help the Ministry properly manage resources for the welfare of the remaining inmates.

     One of the affected inmates, identified as Mr. Efosa, who has been in prison since 2016, thanked the Edo State Government for coming to their rescue. He said he is now a changed man and promised to lead a crime-free life.

  • 400 prisoners escape prison in Tripoli chaos – Official

    Some 400 prisoners escaped from a jail in Libya’s capital on Sunday while fighting between rival armed groups raged nearby, a judiciary official said as the UN called for the warring parties to meet on Tuesday.

    The inmates forced open the doors of the Ain Zara prison and guards were unable to stop them, the official said, confirming a judiciary police statement posted on social media.

    He asked not to get identified and could not provide more details.

    The prison is located in southern Tripoli, an area hit for one week by heavy fighting between rival groups.

    Separately, a missile fell on Sunday on the al-Fallah camp for displaced Tawergha people, killing two and wounding seven, including two children, said Emad Ergeha, an activist following Tawergha issues.

    The Tawergha were forced to leave their settlement near the western city of Misrata in the NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 and have been prevented from going back since.

    Ergeha, who is a Tawergha, also posted online a video of firefighters extinguishing a blaze and showing severe damage to steel-made containers in the camp.
    A rocket also hit the Waddan hotel in central Tripoli near the Italian Embassy on Saturday.

    Three people were injured, staff said.

    State oil firm NOC confirmed one of its diesel depots used to supply a power station had been hit by a rocket on Saturday.

    Fierce clashes erupted on Friday between the Seventh Brigade, or Kaniyat, from Tarhouna, a town 65 km southeast of Tripoli, against the Tripoli Revolutionaries’ Brigades and the Nawasi, two of the capital’s largest armed groups.

    The UN-backed government based in Tripoli declared a state of emergency in the capital “given the seriousness of the current situation.”

    Although the government is formally in charge, it does not control the capital where armed groups are allied to it but operate with autonomy, often motivated by money and power.

    To end the fighting the UN mission in Libya called on the “various concerned parties” to meet on Tuesday noon for an “urgent dialogue on the security situation.”

    Read Also: Court sentences Reuters reporters to seven years in jail

    NAN reports that on Saturday, the U. S., France, Italy and Britain on Saturday condemned what they called an escalation of violence in and around the Libyan capital Tripoli, warning that armed groups which undermined Libyan stability would be made accountable.

    “These attempts to weaken the legitimate Libyan authorities and hinder the ongoing political process are not acceptable,” Washington, Paris, Rome and London said in a joint statement published by the French foreign ministry.

    “We are calling on the armed groups to immediately stop all military action and warn those who seek to undermine stability, in Tripoli or elsewhere in Libya, that they will be made accountable for it,” the statement said.

    Libyan authorities closed Tripoli airport on Friday after some rockets were fired in its direction, a spokesman for the state airline Libyan Airlines said.

  • Sallah : Ganduje frees 170 inmates

    The Kano State Governor Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje on Tuesday granted amnesty to 170 prison inmates in the state.

    Ganduje , who effect the release of the inmates from Goron Dutse Prison, said the gesture was in the spirit of Eid-El Kabir.

    He said that the release of the inmated was to complement Federal Government’s directive in decongesting the nation’s prisons.

    Ganduje, maintained that the gesture was in conformity with President Muhammadu Buhari directive to all Governors to as a matter of urgency decongest prisons across the country.

    According to him, since the inception of his administration in 2015, about 2000 inmates have been granted freedom.

    Read Also: 157 inmates set to write WASSCE, as two pursue PhD

    He advised the ex-inmates to change their attitudes to life and pray for peace and stability in Nigeria.

    Ganduje,also gave each of the freed inmates N5,000 as transport fare to their respective destination.

    Earlier, the Comptroller of Prisons in Kano, Alhaji Abdullahi Magaji, thanked the governor for freeing about 2,000 inmates since his coming into office.

    Magaji advised the freed inmates to indulge and stay away from crimes to avoid going back to prison.

    Some of the freed inmates who spoke ,hailed the State Government for the gesture and promised to shun crimes.

  • Group frees six prisoners to celebrate members’ birthdays

    Group frees six prisoners to celebrate members’ birthdays

    A group, under the aegis of Business and Professional Women (BPW), on Thursday secured freedom for six prisoners in Keffi, Nasarawa state, after paying their fines as part of activities to mark some of its members’ birthdays.

    The Coordinator of the group, Mrs Ada Bisong, told newsmen that the gesture was part of the group’s corporate social responsibilities considered necessary in honour of Mrs. Christie Obinatu, Controller of Prisons of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and others.

    “Obinatu, a leading member, has a tradition of visiting inmates on her birthdays with items to felicitate with them.

    “So this year, we decided to join her with some of our other sisters marking their birthdays to feed the inmates and secure the release of six by paying their fines,” Bisong added.

    She explained that the group would uphold the gesture regularly to de-congest the prisons and give a second chance to mostly the young convicts to make amends.

    BPW is an affiliate of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women (IFBPW) championing the course of women and the less privileged in the society.

    “Part of our mandate is to ensure that more women and the less-privileged are given opportunities for economic empowerment as a safeguard for societal peace,” Bisong said.

    In her remarks, the celebrator, Mrs. Obinatu, condemned the attitude of the youth indulging in criminal activities often resulting in their imprisonment.

    She said it had been a tradition for her as a mother to reach out to the inmates, especially on her birthday to feed and present them some gifts.

    The prison controller admonished the ex-convicts to strive towards becoming responsible citizens when resettled in their communities.

    “For those of you lucky to be freed today, if I ever hear that you return, I would personally ensure that you are locked up in a secluded cell for one month and I guess you know what that can do to you,” Obinatu said.

    Similarly, another member of the group, Mrs Yemisi Bankole, expressed fulfillment for celebrating her birthday with the inmates and touching lives in her own way.

    She advised the ex-convicts to move closer to God and pray for His intervention in their lives, to enable them to turn a new leaf.

    Responding, the Deputy Controller in charge of Keffi Prison, Mr James Lander, commended the group’s gesture, saying that their show of love would go along way in rehabilitating the inmates.

    DCP Lander explained that the 160-capacity prison currently had more than 560 inmates, saying the facility was overstretched as 350 of them were awaiting trial.

    The prison chief said nearly 100 inmates had been set free since September, expressing optimism that more would regain their freedom before the end of the year.

    One of the freed inmates, Ibrahim Garba, thanked the group for its magnanimity.

    Garba assured the philanthropists that they would strive to live a responsible life to justify the gesture.

  • Condemned prisoners know fate soon

    Inmates sentenced to amputation of limbs or stoning to death under the sharia legal system in Bauchi State will soon know their fate.

    This is because  a team of lawyers is presently  studying their cases with a view to recommending  appropriate sanctions that will bring their prolonged incarceration to an end.

    A statement signed by the Public Relations Officer ( PRO) , Bauchi State Prisons Command, ASP Adam Abubakar Jibrin at the weekend quoted the Bauchi State Chief Judge,  Justice Rabi T. Umar as saying this while receiving the Controller of Prisons Bauchi State Command, CP Sulaiman T Sulaiman who paid her a courtesy call in her office

    “The Bauchi State Chief Judge Said she is aware of the increasing number of such cases in the Prisons of the State, noting that some of them have already spent over 13 years without having their sentences executed. Justice  Umar said she will soon meet the State Governor on the matter.

    “She expressed her satisfaction for the good working relationship between the Nigerian Prisons Service and the State judiciary and disclosed that  that before the end of 2017, she will visit the Prisons in the state as her 3rd quarter jail delivery exercise.

    Earlier in his remarks, the Controller of Prisons Bauchi State Command, CP Sulaiman T Sulaiman stated that the purpose for his visit was  to introduce himself to the Chief Judge having assumed duty in the state  recently

    The Controller of Prisons said there are 10 inmates with cases of amputation and six  others on death row by stoning languishing in the Prisons .

    He said that he had written to the Bauchi State Governor on he plight of the affected inmates hoping that their cases will soon be determined.

    The Controller  applauded the State Chief Judge for her frequent visits to Prisons in the state through the administration of Criminal Justice committee. He noted that the committee is helping the prisons towards inmates decongestion.

     

  • SANs disagree over chief judges’ power to pardon

    SANs disagree over chief judges’ power to pardon

    • Contrary to a submission by Sebastine Tar Hon, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), that chief judges lack power to pardon prisoners undergoing trial, Femi Falana (SAN) feels otherwise
    • . The activist-lawyer says chief judges have the constitutional right to ensure that indigent prisoners are not unjustly kept behind bars.

    A Couple of days ago, Mr. S.T. Hon, SAN, questioned the constitutional validity of the administrative power of chief judges to order the release of under-trial prisoners languishing in dehumanising conditions in Nigerian prisons. I found out, to my utter dismay, that the totality of the learned senior counsel’s submission was anchored on the speculative belief that the chief judges have been performing such functions under “the respective High Court laws and High Court rules”.

    Although I drew my learned colleague’s attention to the relevant provisions of the Prison Act and the Criminal Justice (Release from custody) Act which have empowered top judicial officers, including the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) and chief judges to conduct prison visits and order  “the release  of any prison inmate if satisfied that the detention  of that person is manifestly unlawful; or that the  person detained has been in custody, whether on remand or otherwise, for a period longer than the maximum period of imprisonment which the person detained could have served had he been convicted of the offence in respect of which he was detained” he did not change his position.

    In fact, in his curious rejoinder to my intervention in the needless debate Mr. Hon SAN did not pay any attention to both laws as he insisted that his shaky submission on the matter was unassailable. In questioning the administrative release of prison inmates he accused the chief judges of usurping the powers of the president and state governors by granting pardon to persons concerned with criminal offences.  Thus, I am compelled to reiterate that the prisoners released by chief judges have not been pardoned but merely released from illegal prison custody. To that extent, such prisoners may be rearrested and prosecuted by the government. But a convict pardoned by the president or a state governor is said to be a new man (novus homo), having been acquitted of all corporal penalties and forfeitures annexed to the offence. See Falae v Obasanjo (No 2) (1999) 4 NWLR (Pt 599) 476.

    Instead of relying on local and foreign authorities on the undisputed constitutional powers of the president and state governors to grant pardon to convicts and criminal suspects, Mr. Hon SAN may wish to have a look at the case of Edwin Iloegbunam & Ors v. Richard Iloegbunam & Ors (2001) 47 WRN 72 wherein the Court of Appeal had upheld the constitutional validity of the Criminal Justice (Release from Custody) (Special Provisions) Act.  In that case, the appellants were arraigned on a holding charge of attempted murder before the Magistrate’s Court, Ogidi, Anambra State on July 3, 2000. For want of jurisdiction the magistrate’s court refused the application of the appellants for bail and ordered that they be remanded in prison custody. However, before they were properly charged with murder at the High Court the Chief Judge of Anambra State visited the Onitsha Prisons and ordered that the appellants be released on bail. In making the order, the Chief Judge did not pardon the murder suspects but merely released them on bail.

    As soon as the appellants regained their freedom, the complainants in the murder case filed a motion ex parte at the Lagos judicial division of the Federal High Court and prayed that the appellants be rearrested and held in prison custody. The application was granted as prayed. Completely dissatisfied with the order, the appellants approached the Court of Appeal for the restoration of their fundamental right to personal liberty. In justifying the decision of the lower court, the respondents’ counsel, Chief Anah, SAN, questioned the constitutional validity of the Criminal Justice (Release from Custody) (Special Provisions) Act under which the Anambra Chief Judge had released the appellants on bail.

    In my submissions on behalf of the appellants, I argued that the validity of the Act could not be challenged since it was made to protect the fundamental right of prison inmates to personal liberty guaranteed by Section 35 of the Constitution. In allowing the appeal, the Court of Appeal had no hesitation in upholding the validity of the Act. In the lead judgment of the court, Oguntade Justice of the Court of Appeal (JCA) (as he then was) held that “there is power in the Chief Justice of the Federation or any of the chief judges of the states to order the release of persons detained in prison custody in the exercise of their power under Section 1(1) of the Criminal Justice (Release from Custody) (Special Provisions) Act Cap 79 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990 is not in doubt. The exercise of that power by the Anambra Chief Judge would definitely constitute a different cause of action for the present respondents if they feel aggrieved by it. And an action founded on the exercise of that power which action is challenging the authority of the Chief Judge is one that should be brought before the High Court of Anambra State by virtue of Section 272 of the 1999 Constitution.”

    It may interest Mr. Hon, SAN, to know that heads of court in other jurisdictions in common law countries are applying similar laws to decongest prisons by releasing indigent prison inmates from prison custody during prison visits. In Writ Petition (Civil) No. 406/2013 in which judgment was handed down on September 16, 2014, the Supreme Court of India directed magistrates and session judges to visit prisons in their districts for two months to identify and release under-trial prisoners who had already been held in custody for half of the maximum period prescribed by law for the offences for which they were charged.

    The court however pointed out that the order did not apply to under-trial prisoners whose offences attract death penalty. Since not less than 66 per cent of inmates were awaiting trial in the various courts across the country, Chief Justice R. M. Lodha, noted that “there are people who cannot take bail. There is nobody for them. They languish in jails because courts are not enabled to take their cases.”

    The progressive verdict of the Supreme Court of India has reverberated throughout common law countries and has strengthened the campaign for prison decongestion. In March this year, the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Ahmed Sheikh, visited the Malir district prison. Based on the complaints of several prison inmates, the Chief Justice met with the Inspector-           General of Prisons for the District, Mr. Nusrat Manghan. Following the directive of the Chief Justice, the prison management announced a remission of 60 days to the entitled jail inmates apart from those convicted for espionage, subversion, terrorism and murder. Just last month, the Principal Judge of the High Court of Uganda, Justice Yorokamu Bamwine, directed all High Court judges and magistrates to release all prisoners who have overstayed on remand without trial. His lordship lamented that on his countrywide tours to prisons, he met many prisoners who have stayed on remand beyond the statutory period. He said Article 23 of the Constitution demands that untried persons remanded on non-capital offences, should be released on mandatory bail after three months in jail. In justifying the directive, Justice Bamwine said that his directive was intended to protect liberties of suspects as provided for in the Constitution and that one way of ensuring compliance is through routine visits to prisons to ascertain the numbers and conditions in prisons and routine meetings with all judicial officers and court staff, among the best practices.”

    From the foregoing, our chief judges are on terra firma in exercising their powers under the Criminal Justice (Release from Custody) (Special Provisions) Act in ordering the release of under trial prisoners during prison visits. Apart  from the decision of the Court  of Appeal in the case of Iloegbunam v Iloegbunam supra which has upheld the validity of the Act, Section 8 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, has imposed a duty on chief judges to appoint High Court judges and magistrates to visit detention centres once a month with a view to ensuring that the indigent under-trial prisoners are not detained without legal justification in line with paragraph 55 of the United Nations (UN) Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners adopted by Nigeria.

  • Eid-el-fitr: Ganduje frees 50 prisoners

    Eid-el-fitr: Ganduje frees 50 prisoners

    Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje has granted official pardon to 500 prisoners in the spirit of Eid-el-fitr.

    The governor gave the pardon at Kano Central Prison, Kurmawa, while addressing convicts shortly after the Eid prayers.

    Ganduje, who was accompanied by the Minister of Interior, Lt.-Gen. A.B. Dambazau (rtd), explained that a committee, comprising officials of the government and the Nigeria Prison Service (NPS), has been mandated to produce names of deserving inmates within two weeks.

    He said 200 of the prisoners will come from the state Central prison, while the remaining 300 will be from Goron Dutse prison and other satellite prisons.

    The governor also declared 50 inmates, who were granted amnesty during the state’s golden jubilee, free. All of them would get transport fares to their various destinations, he added.

    Gen. Dambazau (rtd) lauded the state government for providing land to the NPS to build a 3,000-capacity prison.

    He admonished the freed inmates to “go back to the society and engage in legitimate activities, warning that if they revert to crime, chances are that they will not regain their freedom, if apprehended.

    He, however, urged the government to work with the NPS in the proposed co-location of prisons and courts, to ease the problem of conveyance of prisoners to court and support the state command towards the success of its on-going skills acquisition centre project at Kurmawa prison.

  • 34 prisoners get pardon in C/Rivers

    GOVERNOR Ben Ayade of Cross River has granted a state pardon to 34 inmates serving various jail terms in Calabar Prison to mark the 50th Anniversary of the state.

    Ayade said yesterday in Calabar in his anniversary speech that Cross River had every reason to celebrate 50 years of its existence as a state, considering its monumental achievements during the period.

    The governor said the pardon was in the spirit of the celebration and based on the provision of section 212 of the 1999 Constitution.

    He said, “in the spirit of the celebration and the powers vested on me by the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, I hereby grant clemency to the following category of people serving various jail terms in the state.

    “They are five people on death row; 16 prisoners serving life sentences; four prisoners who are above 60 years of age; nine convicted criminals who are terminally ill and may likely die any moment if not granted pardon.”

    Ayade stressed the need for the people to always remember past leaders of the state who had made considerable efforts in moving the state to greater heights.

    He said that in spite of the great challenges that have bedevilled the state, there was the need for the people to have hope for a greater future.

    According to him, the state has excelled in many fields of endeavours including tourism, agriculture and forest preservation.

    He added that the annual Calabar Carnival has become the greatest street party in Africa.

    “I therefore call on you to stick together as we look forward to a greater tomorrow, ” he said.

    Ayade had earlier performed the public signing into law of eight bills passed by the State House of Assembly, as part of the celebration.

    The laws include Administration of Criminal Justice in Cross River; Citizen Right, Cross River Inland Water-ways, Cross River Scrap Regulatory Agency, Cross River Lottery ; Hawkers Right; Emergency Management Agency, and House of Assembly Commission.

    The governor also used the occasion of the celebration to call on the people of the state to pray for the quick recovery of President Muhammad Buhari.

    It would be recalled that Cross River was created on May 27, 1967 from the former Eastern Region as South Eastern State by the then Gen. Yakubu Gowon regime.

    The state was renamed to Cross River State in 1976 by late Head of State, Gen. Murtala Muhammed.