BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
Osun State Governor, Gboyega Oyetola has freed 11 inmates of Ilesa and Ile-Ife Correctional Centres in the state.
The governor, who had paid the fines of the freed inmates during a critical review of their cases which range from stealing, conspiracy, to fraud among others, said the amnesty was offered as part of ways to decongest the prisons.
The state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Femi Akande who led a delegation of his ministry to the two Correctional Centres, urged the freed inmates not to return to the crimes in which they were convicted.
Akande, who was represented by the state Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary, Adekemi Bello facilitated their release after offsetting the required fines on behalf of the state governor.
He urged the freed inmates to repent totally and not to return to crimes again.
The authorities of the two facilities had earlier approached Oyetola separately on the urgent need to assist some of the inmates in offsetting the various fines levied against them but which they could not pay, thus making them to languish in the prison yards for many years.
Speaking after the inmates were freed, Deputy Controller of the Osun Command of the Nigeria Correctional Centre, Ilesa, Mr Olusola Amoran commended Governor Oyetola for decongesting the facility through the amnesty.
He advised the 11 released inmates to see their freedom as opportunity to be of good behaviors and should not return to crime. Amoran particularly sought the need for the freed inmates to get themselves engaged in legitimate businesses that will earn them a living.
