COVID-19: El-Rufai approves release of 72 inmates

Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state, has approved the release of 72 inmates from both the Kaduna and Kafanchan correctional centres.

Aisha Dikko, attorney general and commissioner for justice in the state, who made the announcement on Tuesday, said 69 of the convicts were released in Kaduna while the others were freed in Kafanchan.

She said 42 inmates who were freed from the Kaduna correctional centre were convicts who were given an option to pay a fine of not more than N50,000.

Dikko added that four inmates were serving three years and above, with less than six months of their sentence to serve.

She disclosed that one of the inmates has spent 75 percent of his sentence after remission and 22 others were convicted for minor offences.

“From the Kafanchan Custodial Centre, two inmates were freed with three months left on their sentence, while one inmate was released based on old age,” she said.

The development comes one week after the federal government freed 2,600 inmates from correctional centres across the country.

The government took the decision as part of efforts to decongest the custodial centres and contain the spread of coronavirus.