*Over 4,000 taken out of prison
By Abdullahi Muhammed
The National Council of State presided over by President Muhammedu Buhari on Thursday ratified the presidential pardon granted to former governor of old Bendel state, Professor Ambrose Alli over N900,000 fraud and three other Nigerians.
Addressing State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, said the Council of State also pardoned Colonel Moses Effiong and Major E. J. Olarenwaju for attempted coup during the General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida era as well as Ajayi Olusola Babalola.
“The memo presented for consultation in line with one of the constitutional requirements and consideration of grant of pardon to 45 persons, two inmates for pardon, 39 inmates for clemency and four ex-convicts for presidential pardon.“To further clarify on the prerogative of mercy, Mr. President with COVID-19 pandemic, has directed the decongestion of our correctional centers across the country. And by way of collaborative action, the governors, heads of courts across the nations, have worked assiduously in collaboration with the presidential committee on decongestion of our correctional centers and at the end of the day we have succeeded in taking out over 4,000 inmates out of our correctional centers across the country.
“What we have today is a consolidation of what has been done and the strategies put in place to see to the decongestion of our correctional centers. As you are aware, more than 70 percent inmates in our correctional centers were awaiting trial across the country and a lot of considerations were put in place to ensure our correctironal centers are decongested; the prerogative of mercy was one of such considerations by Mr. President,” he said.
The minister said the Council of State also approved the appointment of two new legal practitioners as members of Federal Judicial Service Commission. He said the law confers on the president the right to appoint members of the Federal Judicial Service Commission, subject to consultation with the Council of State.
“The exercise this morning relating to the presentation of the council memo was for the purpose of fulfilling the constitutional righteousness relating to the appointment of the two new legal practitioners, in essence it is to consult with the council of state out of desire for compliance with constitutional requirements. “The two members to represent Nigerian Bar Association on the federal judicial service commission are Namoso Ekanem (SAN), from Akwa Ibom state representing the South South geo-political zone and Mammud Abubakar Mogaji (SAN) from Niger State to represent the North Central geo-political zone,” he said.
Also speaking, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, said the Council of State also approved the appointment of Isa Kwarra as the chairman of National Population Commission (NPC) and other members of the NPC.
The members are Muhammed Chuso A. Dattijo (Sokoto), Alhaji Razaq Gidado (Kwara), Ibrahim Mohammed (Bauchi), Joseph Kwai Shazin (FCT), Engineer Bala Almu Banya (Katsina) and Mrs Bimbola Salu-Hundeyin (Lagos).He said the Council of State also also commended the Presidential Task Force on Control of COVID-19 for its impact on the nation’s economy.
The meeting was attended by all living former Nigerian leaders except former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The four former Nigerian leaders that attended the meeting are General Yakubu Gowon, General Ibrahim Babangida, Chief Earnest Shonekan, General Abdulsalami Abubakar and Goodluck Jonathan.