Bauchi C J Grants 11 Inmates Freedom in Bauchi, Cautions Sharia Judges on Sentencing Suspects of Minor Offenses

By Bashir Hassan Abubakar

Bauchi State Chief Judge, Hon. Justice Rabi T.Umar had in her third quarter visit to Custodial Centres in the State, released a total number of eleven inmates(11) from Custodial Centres in Bauchi State Command.

A press statement signed and issued Wednesday evening by the public relations officer of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Bauchi State Command, SC Adam Abubakar Jibrin said during the jail delivery exercise, the Chief judge, along side members of the Administration of criminal Justice committee, comprising of the Nigerian Police, the Director Public Prosecution(DPP) from Ministry of Justice, the Nigerian Bar Association Bauchi Chapter and the Controller of Corrections, toured Misau, Zaki,Gamawa and Azare Custodial Centres respectively.

Others centres visited include Jama’are, Ningi and Bauchi Custodial Centres, where the CJ reviewed cases of awaiting trial inmates presented to her and released deserving ones.

While addressing the released inmates, the Chief Judge admonished them to be law abiding citizens and shun crime. The Chief judge also took time to address inmates with terrorism-related charges who have been languishing in custody for a long time without trial.

She assured them that government and relevant agencies are doing everything possible to address their problems, urging them to remain calm and exercise more patience.

Also addressing Sharia Court judges, the Chief Judge urged them to refrain from sentencing all manners of suspects into custody especially those with minor offences because, according to her, that brings about congestion in Custodial Centres.

In his remarks, Controller of Corrections Bauchi State Command, CCS Kabir Abba Galadanci Commended the Chief Judge and the State government for making the visit to Custodial Centres possible.

He said the visit will go along way in decongesting the Centres and further give hope to the inmates.

Some freed inmates

Lai Mohammed unhappy media is underreporting military success against bandits

Lai Mohammed says the military has already drastically reduced banditry.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has called on the media to give more attention to the military’s offensive against bandits in the northwest region.

Military operations against them have been stepped up in recent weeks, with the government shutting down telecommunications services in many parts of Zamfara, Katsina, and Sokoto to cut off the bandits’ information flow.

Mohammed said during a meeting with the Katsina State government on Tuesday, September 21, 2021 that the strategy is working, and has already drastically reduced banditry.

Lai Mohammed unhappy media is underreporting military success against bandits

The minister however lamented that the government’s positive efforts have not received the kind of media attention given to the bandits.

“There is no doubt that the table is turning against the bandits, since Katsina and other affected states came up with a number of novel measures that got the bandits boxed in, and the military stepped up its kinetic approach,” he said.

The 69-year-old said the government’s success ‘should be trumpeted’ so as to encourage more states to adopt similar measures, and boost the morale of security agencies.

He said the government is very worried about the wave of violence in the northwest region, and expressed confidence the military will soon put an end to it.

Reps to investigate exclusion of Rivers from World Bank loan benefits

House of Representatives on Wednesday called for investigation into the alleged exclusion of Rivers from projects to be financed by a fresh World Bank loan.

Solomon Bob (PDP-Rivers) had alleged in the house that Rivers is the only state that would not benefit from the loans.

He stated that the report, if true, rendered the Federal Government’s action as contrary to the spirit and letters of the 1999 Constitution.

He added that it would be discriminatory against the people of Rivers and capable of creating a sense of alienation, exclusion and discontent.

Bob added that the house had a responsibility to ensure that the affairs of the federation were conducted in accordance with the Constitution and the law of equity and fairness.

This, he said, should be followed with an overriding responsibility to deploy its Constitutional powers to ensure compliance on the part of the Executive.

He added that Nigeria is a federation that professes equity, fairness and social justice and that there were several constitutional provisions prohibiting all forms of discrimination on the basis of partisan leaning, religion, place of origin or tribe.

Reps to investigate exclusion of Rivers from World Bank loan benefits

He said that some sections of the Constitution imposed a duty on the Federal Government to ensure equitable distribution of resources and projects across the federation.

The consequently mandated its Committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management to liaise with the office of the Adviser on National Assembly Matters to the President to ascertain the veracity of the allegation.

It also mandated the committee to revert in 14 days for further legislative action.

The house noted that if other states were listed, Rivers should be included to benefit from the projects to be executed with the fresh loan.

(NAN)