Mai Mala Buni, the governor of Yobe State, has pardoned 115 convicts serving varying prison sentences in the state's correctional facilities.
This information was provided by the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Legal Matters and Chair of the Advisory Committee on Prerogative of Mercy, Barrister Saleh Samanja, during the presentation of a report on the methods used by the Committee to choose the benefited inmates.
The Chairman claimed that the Committee had visited prisons in Potiskum, Gashu'a, and Nguru and had compiled a list of prisoners who should be released.
The majority of the prisoners who are benefiting are those with small infractions and shorter sentences, as well as those who are incarcerated with the option of paying a fee, among others.
The detainees were overjoyed and gave us their word that they would never turn back to their old habits as a result of this act of kindness and mercy shown to them.
In addition to praising the Committee for a job well done, Governor Mai Mala Buni urged civic-minded people to get behind the movement to create a better society.
He issued a warning to the prisoners on the list not to make the same mistakes that landed them in the correctional facilities, stating that anyone who did so would face the full force of the law.