At least 12 convicted persons serving jail terms
for offences categorized as “special and simple
offences” narrowly missed being released by
the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice
Ayotunde Phillips. The convicted persons are serving jail terms of
about 390 days for violating the state
environmental sanitation laws. A director of an
NGO, Prisoners’ Rights Advocacy Initiative
(PRAI), Mr. Ahmed Adetola-Kazeem, said the
convicted persons, some of whom are under aged, were sentenced by a Special Offences
Court in Alausa, Ikeja, sometimes between July
and September for violating the state
environmental laws. Adetola-Kazeem, whose NGO is handling some
of the convicts’ cases said the chief judge
declined to order their release because they
had gone through trial and convicted. In views
of this, she reportedly said that it’s only the
governor that can grant them amnesty. The Director of PRAI said one of the convicts,
Chinedu John, for instance, was sentenced to
390 days imprisonment by the court for
allegedly violating the state environment
sanitation laws. Another convicted person – Dotun Owokiigbe
(15) was sentenced in July 15 to one- year
imprisonment for similar offence. Adetola-Kazeem said the convicts were
sentenced to prison terms in spite of a
subsisting directive of the CJ that magistrates
of the Special Offences Court should desist
from sending convicts to jail terms in prison
alongside hardened criminals.
for offences categorized as “special and simple
offences” narrowly missed being released by
the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice
Ayotunde Phillips. The convicted persons are serving jail terms of
about 390 days for violating the state
environmental sanitation laws. A director of an
NGO, Prisoners’ Rights Advocacy Initiative
(PRAI), Mr. Ahmed Adetola-Kazeem, said the
convicted persons, some of whom are under aged, were sentenced by a Special Offences
Court in Alausa, Ikeja, sometimes between July
and September for violating the state
environmental laws. Adetola-Kazeem, whose NGO is handling some
of the convicts’ cases said the chief judge
declined to order their release because they
had gone through trial and convicted. In views
of this, she reportedly said that it’s only the
governor that can grant them amnesty. The Director of PRAI said one of the convicts,
Chinedu John, for instance, was sentenced to
390 days imprisonment by the court for
allegedly violating the state environment
sanitation laws. Another convicted person – Dotun Owokiigbe
(15) was sentenced in July 15 to one- year
imprisonment for similar offence. Adetola-Kazeem said the convicts were
sentenced to prison terms in spite of a
subsisting directive of the CJ that magistrates
of the Special Offences Court should desist
from sending convicts to jail terms in prison
alongside hardened criminals.
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