Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf, Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, has discharged 35 inmates awaiting trial from the two custodial centres in Keffi Local Government Area of Nasarawa state.
Baba-Yusuf discharged the inmates during a visit to the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Keffi on Tuesday.
Out of the 35 inmates released, 33 were males, while three are females.
The chief judge said that the visit was aimed at ensuring that those who do not deserve to be behind bars can go free.
“There are a lot of people who shouldn’t be here in the first place.
”This visit is to ensure that people who have no business being here are not kept behind doors, not even for one day. That is what we have done.
“Today we have been able to set free 35 people who have no business being here and that is a huge boost,” he said.
He said the exercise will be a routine one to ensure that people are not allowed to suffer unnecessarily in custody when they shouldn’t be there.
“I have also given directive to the Director in charge of the magistrates to do oversight functions on some of these courts whenever their matters come to the courts so that we ensure that the proceedings of the courts runs smoothly,” he said.
He added that Magistrates handling cases in the FCT courts have also been chastised to improve on case management strategy so that trials of the cases run expeditiously and inmates are able to know their fate.
Also speaking, Miss Cynthia Onyeka, Programme Officer, Public and Private Development Center, PPDC a Civil Society Organisation, CSO appreciated the chief judge for taking time to visit the custodial centres.
‘Many people shouldn’t be here’ – FCT CJ discharges 35 inmates from correctional centres