Posted by Vincent IKUOMOLA Abuja on
After 22 years of waiting for the hangman, reprieve finally came the way of a condemned criminal as President Umaru Yar'Adua ordered his release.
After 22 years of waiting for the hangman, reprieve finally came the way of a condemned criminal as President Umaru Yar'Adua ordered his release.
The man, Ibrahim Aliyu, 57, has spent a total of 25 years in prison. These include three years spent awaiting trial for armed robbery and a further 22 years, after conviction, awaiting the hangman at the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison, Lagos.
Also, President Yar'Adua has written to Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State , to pardon a 90-year old prisoner who has spent nine years awaiting trial.
Nze Enweremadu has spent nine years awaiting trial and two years on death row.
According to a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President (Media & Publicity), Olusegun Adeniyi, he said President Yar'Adua granted the pardon in accordance with Section 175 of the 1999 Constitution.
Yar'Adua also directed the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation to undertake a review of the records of inmates of Nigerian prisons and bring other deserving cases to his attention.
The statement reads in part:
"Exercising the powers vested in him by Section 175 of the 1999 Constitution, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua today pardoned a man who has been on death row for the past 22 years.
"The man, Ibrahim Aliyu, 57, has spent a total of 25 years in prison. He spent three years awaiting trial for armed robbery and a further 22 years, after conviction, awaiting the hangman at the Maximum Security Prison, Lagos .
"President Yar'Adua has similarly written to Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State , asking him to kindly pardon Nze Ikemenawa Enweremadu who is presently on death row in Port Harcourt Prison having been convicted of murder, a state offence.
"Nze Enweremadu is 90 years old. He has spent nine years awaiting trial and two years on death row."