The Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, Tuesday pardoned 12 prisoners who were on death row.
The governor also commuted six other people’s execution sentences to life in prison.
According to a statement by the Nigerian Correctional Service’s Kano spokeswoman, Musbahu Lawan, the governor also released four female prisoners after receiving recommendations from the institution due to their “change of character”.
Each of the pardoned detainees received an N5,000 transit fare, according to the announcement.
The governor used the authority granted to him by the constitution to release the inmates with good behavior on the advice of the committee and the correctional service, according to the spokesperson. “The Chairman of the Prerogative of Mercy Committee, Abdullahi Garba Rano, and Controller of Corrections, Kano State Command, Sulaiman Mohd Inuwa, thanked the governor for using the power,” the spokesperson said.
The official claims that some of the released prisoners had been waiting to be executed for 25 years.
The correctional service spokesperson released an audio interview with some of the freed inmates. One of them, a 69-year-old man who has not been identified, said he had spent 23 years on death row and was grateful to the governor and the correctional service for his freedom.
