Ondo state governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, pardoned prison inmates awaiting execution in some correctional facilities in the state on new year’s day.
Akeredolu converted their death sentence to life imprisonment.
About four inmates serving jail terms in Ondo prisons had their sentence reduced according to the number of years already served while others were freed upon discovering that they had behaved well while in prison.
The fortunate prisoners were exhorted by Akeredolu to take advantage of the chance to turn a new leaf and to refrain from any action that would send them back to the institutions.
The State’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice Charles Titiloye, made this disclosure via a statement, noting that the governor’s act was done in the spirit of the new year.
Her statement reads “The Governor in exercise of power conferred on him by paragraphs (a) (c) and (d) of sub-section (1) of Section 212 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as Amended) directed the Controller of Nigerian Correctional Service in Ondo to release and set free, the said seven (7) inmates in the facilities of the Correctional Center in Ondo State.
“The decision of the Governor was pursuant to the recommendation of the State Advisory Council on prerogative of Mercy that the inmates have undergone reformation at the Correctional center and they are of good conduct,” he said.
The governor warned them to behave well and live law-abiding lives.