Five Months After, Osun Govt Yet To Fulfil Promise To Pardoned Inmates
It is over five months since Governor Ademola Adeleke pardoned 52 inmates serving various terms at different Custodial Centres across Nigeria’s South West region.
OSUN DEFENDER, however, learnt that months after their release, the state government is yet to fulfil its promises to the freed ex-inmates, particularly Sunday Morakinyo and Segun Olowookere.
The duo were identified specially during the Amnesty programme of the state government in December 2024 due to the nature of the offences that led them to prison for more than a decade.
Olowookere and Morakinyo were incarcerated and were on death row in Ilesa, Ibara and Kirikiri Prisons for stealing fow and eggs in Oyan, Odo-otin Local Government Area of the state.
But the police claimed they were armed with cutlasses during the act.
Shortly after their release from prison, a human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, called on the Osun Government to facilitate the rehabilitation of the pardoned convicts, Olowookere and others, before integrating them back into the society.
Meanwhile, Falana described the trial, conviction, and death sentence passed on Olowookere and Morakinyo as illegal, null and void in every material particular, said: “The case ought to have been instituted in Osun State Family Court, which exclusively empowered to exercise jurisdiction in any criminal proceeding involving or relating to any penalty, forfeiture, punishment or other liability in respect of an offence committed by a child, against a child or the interest of a child.”
OSUN DEFENDER reliably gathered that both Olowookere and Morakinyo were within the age of 17 and 16 years at the time of their trials in 2010.
The medium learnt that Olowookere and other pardoned ex-convicts have been roaming the streets since their release from prison due to the inability of the state government to engage them.
Also, the Osun State chapter of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) at the time called on Nigerians to urgently rehabilitate the pardoned inmates.
CDHR, in a statement by its chairman in the state, Comrade Emmanuel Olowu, made the call when one of the freed ex-convicts, Sunday Omisakin, was rearrested after breaking into a building in Osogbo and stealing a television a few days after he was released from prison.
Olowu, in the lette,r highlighted potential risks associated with the release of the individuals without any form of rehabilitation, saying the Administration of Criminal Justice Law 2015 and Osun State Administration of Criminal Justice Law 2018 mandated a rehabilitation exercise for pardon prisoners.
But after the calls from both Falana and Olowu, the government has neither organised a rehabilitation programme nor empowered the ex-convicts as promised.
OSUN DEFENDER reliably gathered that Adeleke, through the Ministry of Children and Women Affairs, has requested the submission of academic credentials of both Olowookere and Morakinyo, who is currently battling mental illness due to the torture received from the police during his incarceration.
The medium learnt that it was only the duo that the government had identified to be absorbed into the state civil service out of the 52 pardoned individuals.
However, the government has yet to fulfil the promise as the individuals have submitted their O’Levels certificates to the appropriate quarters.
Olowu, while speaking with OSUN DEFENDER on Wednesday, stated that Adeleke has successfully integrated over 50 criminals into society because they have not been rehabilitated
“The answer is that His Excellency Ademola Adeleke has successfully released At least 50 criminals into the society.
“When inmate are in prison they passed through a very chronic psychological trauma and releasing them required a rehabilitation program. The fact is that lots of them are presently into crime as we speak but the hands of Justices as not just touches them.
“I urge the state government to track these individuals and give them the proper orientation and as well empower them. They need to be engaged. There is a popular saying that an Idle hand is the devil workshop.”
The Commissioner for Women Affairs, Children and Social Welfare, Hon. Ayobola Awolowo did not respond to the terse message sent to her phone as at the time of filing this report.
Yusuf Oketola is a trained journalist with over five years of experience in the media industry. He has worked for both print and online medium. He is a thorough-bred professional with an eye of hindsight on issues bothering on social justice, purposeful leadership, and a society where the leaders charge and work for the prosperity of the people.
