Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State on Wednesday granted pardon to three men awaiting execution as an exercise of his executive powers to mark Nigeria’s 54th Independence anniversary celebrations.
The governor also commuted the death sentences of nine other prisoners to various terms of imprisonment.
Speaking at a special ceremony in Asaba, the state capital, Uduaghan said the pardon of the prisoners was based on recommendations from the State Advisory Council on the Prerogative of Mercy.
“As part of the independence Day celebration, through the power conferred on me under section 212 of the Nigerian Constitution and based on the recommendation from the State Advisory Council of the Prerogative of Mercy, I have granted total pardon to three prisoners sentenced to death and granted amnesty to nine other prisoners on death row whose sentences have now been commuted to various terms of imprisonment,” the governor said.
He disclosed that a case of a 24 year-old-boy, who was 16 years at the time he was arrested for stealing a phone and was sentenced to death, was being looked into. He said but for an appeal filed by the family he would have granted him pardon.
He therefore pleaded with the family to withdraw the appeal from the court to enable him exercise the relevant powers and grant the accused pardon.
He appealed to the sponsors of the terrorist group, Boko Haram, to use the occasion of the Independence celebrations to end their terrosist activities.
“I want to call on sponsors of Boko Haram that enough is enough, they should have a rethink, they have killed, maimed, kidnapped and today, we are saying, enough is enough,” he said.
Uduaghan urged Nigerians to always support President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration and pray for those who were staking their lives for Nigeria to remain an indivisible entity.
He thanked the security agencies, royal fathers, spiritual leaders and all Deltans for the different roles they are playing in moving the state and the country forward.
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