Gov. Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara on Friday granted executive pardon to 101 inmates at Oke-Kura maximum and Mandala medium custodian centres of the state.
The State Comptroller of Correctional Service, Adebisi Francis, releasing the inmates said that 83 among the total number of inmates who benefited from the government gestures were released outrightly.
Francis said that the sentences of two inmates were also reduced from eight years to ten years while 16 condemned inmates were reduced to life imprisonment.
He urged the freed inmates to always shun all forms of criminality and be useful to the society at large.
Francis added that the state gave the inmates second chance and they should return their gesture by contributing their quotas to the society.
He said further that the beneficiaries are those that have serve 75 per cent out of their jail term, those with challenge and aged inmates.
Francis, however, appreciated the governor for giving the freed inmates palliative that would aide their incorporation into the society.
One of the released inmates, Francis Monday, commended the state Governor for his magnanimity and prayed that God would guide and guard him in piloting the affairs of the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that President Muhammadu Buhari had recently directed the decongestion of correctional centres across Nigeria as part of efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.
