Nigeria’s Interior Minister, Rauf Aregbesola, has promised that inmates who escaped from the custodial center in Owerri, Imo capital, will be granted amnesty if they return voluntarily, Njenje Media News reports.
He made this known at the inspection of the centre on Tuesday, April 6, adding that an escape from custody is unlawful, and a crime. He explained that if those who escaped return willingly, they will be pardoned from a trial for unlawful escape.
In his words:
“Unlawful escape from custody is a crime but the government in its magnanimity will grant amnesty to prisoners who willfully return. They will no longer be charged with an unlawful escape but only for the initial crimes that took them to prison. So we urge all escapees to return before they are caught on the run,” he said.
Njenje Media News recalls that over 1,880 inmates were said to have escaped from the prison after it was attacked by gunmen in the early hours of Monday, April 4.
