Kwara State government on Monday said it would grant pardon to nursing mothers and aged persons among others in the four correctional centres in the state.
Salman Jawondo, the state’s Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in llorin.
He, however, stressed that those to be pardoned in the correctional centres in llorin, Mandalla, Omuaran and Lafiagi were those who committed minor offences.
According to Jawondo, aged inmates in bad state of health as confirmed by a qualified medical practitioner and those who have nearly completed their jail terms will benefit from government’s gesture.
The commissioner said the gesture was in consonance with the Federal Government’s directive to states in the quest to prevent the spread of COVID-19
Jawondo, who did not specify the number of those to be freed, said the pardon would involve awaiting trial inmates and convicts.
He further said that the exercise would be carried out in collaboration with the state’s Ministry of Justice, judiciary and religious leaders.
NAN recalls that the state had so far recorded four cases of coronavirus.