By Imelda Osayande
Benin – Reprieve, on Wednesday, came the way of four inmates in Benin, when the retiring Edo Chief Judge, Justice Esohe Ikpomwen, set them free during her visit to the medium correctional facility at Oko, in the state capital.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ikpomwen will retire from the state judiciary on Nov. 22.
The freed inmates are Ogunsuyi Roland, 40; Joel Ogbeide, 29; Joseph Effiong, 20 and Moses Okoro, 39.
While the chief judge released both Roland and Ogbeide on health grounds, Effiong was freed because he had “no case to answer.”
Ikponmwen also released Okoro, who had been in custody for the alleged murder of the Private Secretary to former Gov. Adams Oshiomhole, because he had no case file.
The chief judge, however, urged lawyers to always be vigilant and cautioned prosecuting security agencies to avoid unlawful detention of suspects.
In his speech, the Deputy Controller, Oko Medium Correctional Centre, Mr Evboeruan Godwin, listed logistics constraints, especially in the movement of inmates from the centres to courts, as one of the challenges facing the centre.
He also described as security threat situations where courts would sit without prior notice to management of the correctional centre.
Godwin appealed to courts to endeavour to notify the correctional centre, whenever such situations arose.
(NAN)
