FG frees 2,600 prisoners over coronavirus
- Rauf Aregbesola has announced the release of 2,600 prisoners across correctional centres in the country
- The minister said the inmates were freed as "a symbolic gesture of amnesty" from President Muhammadu Buhari
- The decongestion of the correctional centres came amid the growing fear of coronavirus pandemic
The federal government has announced that it will be freeing 2,600 inmates from various correctional centres across the country as part of measure to curb the spread of coronavirus.
Rauf Aregbesola, minister of interior, made this known on Thursday, April 9, during a press conference in Abuja, Sahara Reporters claims.
The interior minister described the decongestion of the correctional centres as "a symbolic gesture of amnesty" from President Muhammadu Buhari.
"In a symbolic gesture of the amnesty given to the 2,600 inmates across Nigeria, 41 Federal inmates and 29 FCT inmates making a total of 70 inmates who met the above criteria will be released today from the Kuje Custodial Center in Abuja.
“This amnesty will not apply to inmates sentenced for violent extreme offences such as terrorism, kidnapping, armed banditry, ra'pe, human trafficking, culpable hom'icide and so on," the minister said.
The move by the government came following a call by Femi Falana, a leading human rights lawyer, to the federal government to consider decongesting the prisons over Covid-19.
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Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that Geoffery Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs, has disclosed that about two hundred (200) Nigerians living in the United States have indicated an interest in returning home amid global scare over coronavirus.
Onyeama made this known during a presidential task force briefing on Covid-19 on Wednesday, April 8, in Abuja.
According to the minister, the protocols for the repatriation of the Nigerians in the United States have been completed as Nigeria is in a “stronger and better position” to listen to the yearning of its citizens abroad.
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Source: Legit.ng
