The Chief Judge of Niger, Justice Jibrin Ndajiwo, has?urged judges and magistrates in the state to be lenient when passing sentences on accused persons.
Ndajiwo made the appeal on Friday at the Nigerian Prison in Suleja during an annual prison visit to decongest the facility.?
He said that imposing minimum sentences could change a convict positively instead of a maximum sentence which would harden him the more.
?“Let the idea of your toughness be based on your firmness to do your job but not your firmness to impose maximum and excessive sentences.?
“If you do that you will be tempering justice with mercy because the person standing trial will be wondering what kind of Magistrate or Judge you are.
“As?such, the person too will begin to have a change of heart on the offence that brought him before the court.
“So I am pleading that when you want to consider sentencing, be very magnanimous and merciful to suspects so that God will also be merciful to you.’’
Ndajiwo?decried a situation where a suspect will be remanded in prison custody for more period than he would have stayed in prison if sentenced for the offence.
“That person is like someone who has been convicted because he has no freedom.’’
He appealed to the magistrates and judges to always consider bail application if an offence was bailable rather than remanding a suspect in prison custody.
Ndajiwo urged the jurists to also consider when a suspect was first remanded in prison custody before sentencing.
“When you do that, the congestion will not be there and your work load will also reduce, so consider releasing suspects on bail in accordance with the law.’’
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the chief judge freed 10 inmates at the prison formation.
This brings to 139, the total number of inmates freed since the annual prison visit commenced across the state on Monday, July 30. ?(NAN)