No fewer than 40 condemned criminals who are of Benue State origin are on death row out of the 80 criminals awaiting the hangman’s noose at the Federal Prisons, Jos in Plateau State. Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of the state, Mr. Alex Adum, disclosed this at the weekend, during the accountability press briefing in Makurdi organised by the Ministry of Information in conjunction with the state council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ).
Adum, however, hinted that the state government was working assiduously to ensure that their cases are brought home and reviewed so that they are either granted pardon or their death sentences committed to life imprisonment.
“There are over 40 Benue natives who are on death row at the Federal Prison, Jos, Plateau State. We are trying hard to see that they are brought back home so that their cases can be reviewed and those who can be pardoned are pardoned while others with death sentence can be reduced to life imprisonment,” he said.
It would be recalled that the Comptroller of Prisons had, recently, visited Benue State to intimate the state government that the state had the highest number of condemned criminals in Jos Prison.
The comptroller had requested that the government of Benue State should either sign their warrant or pardon them so that they could rejoin their families.
Adum, a lawyer stated that his ministry had been able to stave off litigations against the state government to the tune of over N2 billion within the year under review, adding that the ministry had put in place modalities to ensure that all litigations against the state are defended.
