BENIN CITY- The Edo State Chief Judge (CJ), Justice Esohe Ikponwen, on Tuesday freed three inmates out of 1,062 awaiting trial and kept at the Medium Security Prison, Oko in Oredo Local Government Area.
The three inmates who were released as a result of ‘no case file’ submission are Efe Osagbovo (34), Peter Okon (28) and Lucky Moses (29).
Osagbovo, a bus driver who had spent two years and 19 days awaiting trial, said he fought with his landlord but was charged with armed robbery.
Okon, a seller of fairly used clothes who had been awaiting trial for five years and eight months charged with armed robbery, said he was arrested by a police patrol team on his way to his shop.
He, however, promised the CJ that if freed unconditionally, he would go back to Calabar, his hometown.
Justice Ikponwen observed that Moses, who was facing murder charge, had spent five years and seven months without a trace of his case file.
Ikponwen, however, promised to speak with the state government on challenges before the prisons, especially, in the area of vehicles to convey inmates to their various courts.
Earlier, the Deputy Comptroller in charge of Oko Prisons, Mr Godwin Evboeuan, told the Chief Judge that the inmates were taken to courts behind scheduled as a result of non-availability of enough vehicles.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that this was Justice Ikponwen’s first visit to prisons in the state after she was sworn-in as the Chief Judge of the state on Jan. 27, 2017.
