By our correspondent
The recent amnesty program extended to inmates in Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS), Kaduna State Command has set tongues wagging.
Governor Uba Sani led administration had in 2023 signed approval for the release of some inmates from NCS Kaduna centre under the amnesty program with controversies trailing the exercise.
Investigation revealed that Christian inmates are accusing the Governor of favouritism, alleging that the October/November 2023 amnesty program was purely done on religious basis with all the beneficiaries Muslims.
Notable among Muslims beneficiaries of the amnesty includes Ibrahim Mustapha jailed for alleged impersonating a Medical Doctor in Yola; Ibrahim Umar an INEC official from Adamawa State accused of taking over N300m from Daziani Alison Madueake the former Petroleum Minister, and Inman Shagari who was the General Imam for the inmates in Prison amongst other Muslims, to mention but few.
However a prison source said, Governor Sani was not pleased upon learning that all the beneficiaries of the amnesty were Muslims from same faith, at the detriment of their Christian counterpart, as the lists was reportedly compiled inside a mosque.
It was gathered that after several complaints that Governor Uba Sani favoured only the Muslims, the church was asked by the then prison commissioner of Police to compile a lists of his members which was later abandon, as no action was taken on it till date.
According to insider sources, the church lists was engineered due to situation reports of angry Christian by concerned prison officers about the security of the prison, which promoted them to asked the Deputy Commissioner in prison to tell the Church to also write their own lists.
The sources also stated, “That was how church lists was compiled, and 20 was selected from the over 80 names, with promises by prison Chief of Staff that action will be expedited on it since last year around October/November, but nothing came out of it till date”.
Contacted for further clarifications, the Attorney General and Commissioner Ministry of Justice Kaduna state, who’s also the amnesty committee chairman, Hon. Suleiman Shauibu stated that it was wrong for our reporter to buy into such narratives.
“I rather you formally engage my office on this issue. It is not fair at all that you tend to buy into such narratives”, he stated.
Also contacted for further clarification the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Muhammad Lawal threatened court action against the journalist if hev publishes the story.
The responses also read in parts: Salam: That reporter is simply out to blackmail. He sent the same message to me and I asked him to make it official not such message through WhatsApp.
“The said reporter had been following up on an application for amnesty for someone and probably feels this maybe the way to achieve it.
“Above is the response from Ministry of justice. Mr idibia (the investigative) let me warn you that you desist from trying to blackmail the Uba Sani’s administration.
“We will not succumb to blackmail and don’t blame me if we take legal action against you. Have a nice day”, Lawal threatened.
However, the lists and names of the 20 Christian inmates later compiled by Kaduna church inmates that was abandon are as follows: (1) Nyor Apera, (2) Cyril Inawo, (3) Dr Lucious Jinga Mayo, (4) Sunday Oleje, (5) Simon Chile, (6) Monday Joseph, (7) Gabriel Chimezie, ( 8) Sunday Efe, (9) Israel Dominic, (10) Victor Ebuta, and (11) Bature Luka.
Others are (12) Felix Nyona, (13) Joshua Yashin, (14) Moses Augustine, (15) Roland Ovie, (16) Richard Ayuba, (17) Kozah Yabilok
18. Francis Igo, (19) Oyenole Hubola, and (20) Isaac Gregory respectively.
“Numbers 19 and 20 on the lists have already served their sentences and gone. So it remains 18 on this list.
“To the best of my knowledge this government has not yet given any Christian amnesty except it was done secretly that we didn’t know about and I doubt if there’s any at all”, insider source stated.
It would be recalled that “Even Governor El -Rufai gave lots of Christians with just a simple ailment amnesty. I wonder why this one has not’, the source lamented.
According to our prison source, the Christian lists was reportedly delivered by a Reverend who is a friend of Governor Sani through the office of the Chief of Staff (CoS) to the Governor last year.
The last Nigeria national population census figures put Kaduna at almost 50-50 percent between Southern and Northern part of the state.
