25 prisoners regain freedom in Anambra, get N1m each

Twenty-five prisoners in Anambra State on Thursday regained freedom following the amnesty granted to them by the state governor, Willie Obiano, to mark the 55th anniversary of the country’s independence.

Obiano also announced a lifeline of N1m to each of them.

The beneficiaries of the governor’s amnesty were from Awka, Onitsha and Aguata prisons.

Those from Awka prisons were Obumneme Okafor, Chibike Nwogwu, Daniel Philemon, Ude Chidiebere, and Innocent Okeke.

Okeke was sentenced to death, but was later commuted to life imprisonment before he was finally freed on Thursday by the governor in the exercise of his constitutional powers of prerogative of mercy.

In Aguata prisons, the six inmates, who benefited from the gesture included Chinedu Onyebuchi, Okwudili Offor, Emmanuel Enemchukwu, Nwafor Reuben, Camilus Ikensor and Cyril Ogufuba.

The list of 14 others from Onitsha prison was not published at the time of going to press on Friday.

The state governor, who noted in his Independence Anniversary speech that he saw hope in Nigeria, said he had to release the inmates in the spirit of the moment.

He said, “Brothers and sisters, I see hope for Anambra State. I see hope for Nigeria. It is along this line that I have decided to give hope to the hopeless amongst us by exercising my powers of prerogative of mercy and granting amnesty to 25 prisoners serving different terms in the three prisons in Anambra State.”

Obiano also said government would give the 25 beneficiaries of the amnesty training in the state vocational skill acquisition centre after which they would be given N1m as a lifeline to enable them become self-employed and contribute to the society.

Earlier, the Attorney General of the state, Mr. Chude Nnadi, said the inmates were qualified for the amnesty because some of them had only three months left in prison. [Punchng.com]