No fewer than 31 female inmates are currently facing murder trial at the Nigerian Correctional Service Custodial Centre, Abakaliki, capital of Ebonyi State, TheNigerian Metro learnt on Wednesday.
The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Ben Odo, disclosed this on Tuesday when the wife of the state governor, Mrs Mary-Maudline Uzoamaka Nwifuru, paid fines of 41 male inmates convicted with option fines to secure their freedom.
A 16-year-old boy, Ogobuchi Ikebe, who was convicted of stealing a Bluetooth, was among those released by Mrs. Nwifuru.
TheNigerian Metro reports the Abakaliki Correctional Service Custodial Centre has a total of 1,265 inmates out of which 31 of them are females.
Odo said none of the 31 female inmates was among the released inmates by the governor’s wife because they were facing capital offences.
He noted that if they were convicted, they would be transferred to the Enugu Maximum Prison where those on death sentence are kept and awaiting execution.
“We have here in the Nigerian Correctional Service Custodial Centre, Abakaliki 1, 265 inmates. Out of those 1,265 inmates, 31 are female inmates and all the female inmates have offences attached to them.
“They are charged with capital offences and murder and the matter is still ongoing in court, they have not been sentenced. This is why all the people whose fines have been paid are male.
“The 31 female inmates who are here still have ongoing matters in court and because they still have ongoing cases in court, we can’t pay for fines of people that have not been sentenced by the court.
“The 31 of them are facing capital offences. The 31 of them are murder. If they are convicted, the implication is that they will not be here. Anybody who is convicted of murder, which is a capital offence, will be sent to the Enugu Maximum Prison where people who are facing death sentence are kept,” Odo said.
One of the freed male inmates, Nwafor Emmanuel, 26, said he had been in the prison since August last year and commended Mrs. Nwifuru for freeing him.
He disclosed that he witnessed the death of five persons in prison and vowed not to go back to the offence that brought him to prison.
“The condition of inmates in the prison is very pathetic. I witnessed no fewer than five deaths in the prison and I will not do anything that will take me back to the prison.
“I want to thank the wife of our dear governor for securing my release. I was convicted for stealing a generator”, he said.
Addressing the freed inmates, the First Lady urged them to shun crime to avoid going back to the prison.
She assured them that she would continue to fight for the less privileged in society.
