“The Service wants to categorically state that the news is fake and very unrealistic and an attempt to rubbish the good intention of the President towards decongesting the custodial centres.”
Following a report indicating that Maryam Sanda, a murder convict, was granted a presidential pardon, the Nigeria Correctional Services (NCoS) in reaction said she is still the prison custody.
NCoS debunked a report that convicted Maryam was pardoned last week alongside some other 70 inmates at Medium Security Custodial Centre Kuje
Austin Njoku, the NCoS spokesperson, in a statement made available to the media on Thursday, described the report as “ fake, very unrealistic and an attempt to rubbish the good intention of the President towards decongesting the custodial centres.”
“The attention of Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) has been drawn to the news making the rounds that Maryam Sanda was granted presidential pardon last week Thursday April 9th, 2020 alongside some 70 other inmates at the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Kuje.”
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had on April 9, granted a presidential pardon to 2,600 inmates nationwide in bid to decongest correctional centres across the country amidst coronavirus outbreak.
Njoku in the statement on Thursday said, Mrs Sanda was not part of those granted pardon as she did not meet any of the requirements for the release.
“The Service wants to categorically state that the news is fake and very unrealistic and an attempt to rubbish the good intention of the President towards decongesting the custodial centres.”
The official added that, “while addressing the press conference last week, the Minister of Interior Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola clearly stated the categories of inmates qualified for the amnesty includes: Convicts who are Sixty (60) years and above, Convicts serving 3 years and above with less than 6 months to serve, Inmates with ill-health likely to terminate in death, Inmates with mental ill-health, Inmates with option of fine not exceeding N50,000 with no pending case, Convicted pregnant women, Convicted women with child, Convicted inmates with minor offences and Convicted inmates who spent 75% of their sentence after remission.”
According to the NCoS spokesperson, “it obvious that Maryam Sanda did not meet any of the above mentioned requirements and therefore did not benefit from the presidential pardon/clemency.
“We further want to assure the public that Maryam Sanda is in our custody and will remain as such.
“The Controller General of Corrections Ja’afaru Ahmed wishes to assure the public that the Service rumour ensures the safety and humane containment of the inmates in our custody and therefore advised the public to discountenance the rumour that Maryam Sanda benefited from the presidential pardon,” the statement added.
Mrs Sanda was, convicted by a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, over the murder of her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, on January 27.
Meanwhile, she has appealed the judgment, where she argued the judgement of the trial court was a complete “miscarriage of justice.”
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