By our correspondent
Christian prison inmates in Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS) Kaduna state command has released the number of Muslims prison inmates granted amnesty by the state government, revealing that all the 25 inmates granted amnesty were Muslims.
A Christian prison source told our correspondent Monday that all the 20 Christian prison inmates list later compiled and submitted were excluded from the November – October 2023 amnesty program of Governor Uba Sani, as none was given.
The Muslims prison inmates list for the amnesty was allegedly compiled secretly inside a mosque. “They’re about 25 of them, that is what I know, I may not be exact. They were released in October- November 2023, by the Governor”.said the source
Recalled that Governor Uba Sani led administration had in 2023 signed approval for the release of the inmates from NCS Kaduna centre under the amnesty program with controversies trailing the exercise following total exclusion of Christian beneficiaries.
Investigation also revealed that Christian inmates in prison were unhappy about the development, alleging that the October -November 2023 amnesty program was purely done on religious basis and all the beneficiaries Muslims.
Notable among the 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 the former Petroleum Minister, and Inman Shagari who was the General Imam for the inmates in Prison amongst other Muslims.
However, a 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 some Christian counterpart, as the lists was reportedly complied inside mosque.
It was also gathered that after several complaints in prison that Governor Uba Sani favoured only the Muslims, the church in prison was asked by the then prison commissioner of Police to compiled a lists of its members which was done, but later abandon, as no action was taken till date.
According to insider source, 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 asked Church to also write its own lists.
“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”, the source stated.
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 he 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.
“The media officer should warn the journalist to desist from trying to blackmail the Uba Sani 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 20 Christian inmates later compiled by Kaduna church inmates obtained has (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.
“The last 19 and 20 on the lists have already served their sentence and left. So it remains 18 on the lists.
“To the best of my knowledge this government has not yet given any Christian an amnesty except it was done secretly that we didn’t know about and I doubt if there’s any at all”, the source stated.
It would be recalled that “Even Governor El -Rufai gave lots of Christians amnesty. I wonder why this one’, the source lamented.
According to our prison source, the Christian lists was reportedly delivered by a Reverend who is a friend of the Governor Sani through the office of Chief of Staff (CoS) to the Governor last year.
