Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel, has granted amnesty to a 64-year-old inmate of Medium Security Prisons, Ikot Ekpene, Okon Sunday Akpan, of Etinan Local Government Area, having spent 24 years and 28 days in custody.
Governor Emmanuel, in company of the State Chief judge, Justice Stephen Okon, and members of his cabinet, granted the amnesty under the prerogative of mercy charged the beneficiary to go and sin no more and spoke of the need for proper upbringing of children by parents through sound moral guidance to enable them become useful citizens in the society.
Mr Emmanuel, who was on a working visit to the Ikot Ekpene Prisons, said that the visit was to look into the welfare of the inmates and reassured them that they are citizens of the state.
He frowned at the slow dispensation of justice by the judiciary and emphasised the need for speedy dispensation of justice to save the prisons of congestion, particularly of those being incarcerated as awaiting trail inmates.
He said that the programmes of his administration are designed to engage youths meaningfully in vocational skills as a way of reducing criminality, saying that Akwa Ibom people are known for discipline and hard work and used the occasion to advise youths to shun the temptation of going into criminality.
Emmanuel advised the prison inmates to show genuine repentance, stating that remorsefulness is not repentance, and assured that those whom the prisons officials have found to repent from their initial behaviour would be granted pardon.
He advised pardoned Mr Sunday to turn a new leave and let go his nick-name ‘Ikenga’, explaining that the name might have pushed him to his predicament.
The governor directed Commissioner for Health, Dr. Dominic Ukpong, to facilitate access to medical care for two female inmates who are in various stages of pregnancy.
He announced the donation of 100 bags of rice and three cows to the inmates.
The governor also commended prison officials for dedication to duty, describing them as reformers of the society.
Earlier, the Comptroller Prisons, Akwa Ibom State Command, Dr. Regina Akpan, expressed appreciation to the governor on his benevolent disposition towards people in the prison custody and described the Ikot Ekpene Prisons as the best in Africa. She said that the correctional facility accommodates 583 inmates of which 545 are males, while thirty-eight are females.
While appreciating the governor for the amnesty granted to the inmate, Dr. Akpan condemned stigmatisation of ex-convicts, stating that they may have found themselves in prison custody for reasons out of their making and remarked “anybody created by God can wake up one day in prison custody”.
