{"id":72561,"date":"2020-03-28T22:18:13","date_gmt":"2020-03-28T21:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=72561"},"modified":"2020-03-28T22:18:13","modified_gmt":"2020-03-28T21:18:13","slug":"covid-19-muric-backs-aregbesola-on-prison-decongestion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/other-news\/covid-19-muric-backs-aregbesola-on-prison-decongestion\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19: MURIC BACKS AREGBESOLA ON PRISON DECONGESTION"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
The media yesterday widely reported the Minister of Internal Affairs,<\/div>\n
\n
Rauf Aregbesola, as calling for decongestion of correctional centres in
\norder to prevent the dreaded Covid-19 from spreading into them. The
\nminister’s call has been backed by an Islamic human rights group, the
\nMuslim Rights Concern (MURIC). This was revealed in a statement
\ncirculated to pressmen by the director of the organization, Professor
\nIshaq Akintola, on Saturday, 28th March, 2020.<\/p>\n

According to MURIC, “Inmates of correctional centers are complete human
\nbeings and Allah gave them fundamental human rights. They have the right
\nto live, except those that have been condemned to death. Therefore the
\nNigerian government has no moral right to keep them in correctional
\ncenters where they are gravely exposed to Corona virus.<\/p>\n

“In the face of Covid-19’s palpable threat, the Federal Government will
\nbe running foul of Section 33 (1) of the 1999 Constitution of the
\nFederal Republic of Nigeria which guarantees right to life if it fails
\nto free inmates who have not been sentenced to death.<\/p>\n

“We all know what is happening around the world today regarding the
\ndevastating power of this virus. It is killing people in their thousands
\non a daily basis. The United States now has more than 100,000 cases as
\nat Saturday 28th March, 2020. Death toll in Italy is now 9,134. There
\nare now 579,892 infections in the world with 26,504 deaths. We also know
\nthe poor state of our correctional centres. They are not conducive to
\nhuman habitation. They are over-congested. Is it right to continue to
\nkeep people in jail in such a situation?<\/p>\n

“In particular, there are 54 Nigerian soldiers serving a ten-year
\nsentence in some of the centres. These 54 gallant soldiers were ordered
\nto confront Boko Haram fighters who were armed to the teeth. But our
\nsoldiers had very poor weapons. They asked for better equipment and for
\nthat they were promptly rounded up, prosecuted and sentenced to death.
\nTheir death sentence was later commuted to ten years in jail. Yet it was
\ntheir demand for better weapons which exposed the $2.1 billion armsgate.<\/p>\n

“MURIC regards this as a miscarriage of justice. We have made several
\nappeals on the issue of the 54 soldiers to President Muhammadu Buhari,
\nVice President Yemi Osinbajo and even the present Minister of Internal
\nAffairs, Rauf Aregbesola. Last month, we sent a petition to the National
\nAssembly for the intervention of our lawmakers. We are still waiting for
\nthe Senate president and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to
\nact on the petition.<\/p>\n

“The interest shown by Aregbesola raises our hope. Inmates do not
\ndeserve to die like chicken inside correctional centres over this
\nmarauding virus, Covid-19. Something must be done urgently. We urge
\ngovernors, chief judges, etc to pay urgent visits to correctional
\ncentres with a view to releasing inmates in large numbers before this
\nvirus invades their poorly equipped abodes.<\/p>\n

“We call on President Muhammadu Buhari to exercise his prerogative of
\nmercy to free all Nigerian prisoners except those on the death row.
\nNigeria has 74,927 inmates in 244 centres spread around the country.
\nThey are Nigerians and they have the right to live. Covid-19 is death
\nsentence for them because they have little or no access to testing
\nequipment or any form of medication.<\/p>\n

“Already, 19 prisoners in 10 prisons have tested positive in British
\njails. We do not know exactly if the virus is already in our jails
\nbecause we do not have the capacity to test our inmates yet. Nigeria
\nmust emulate other countries of the world which have taken proactive
\nmeasures to combat the spread of Covid-19 by decongesting their prisons.<\/p>\n

“New York is already warming up to release hundreds of inmates for fear
\nof the virus spreading among them. Iran took the lead a few days ago by
\nsetting 80,000 prisoners free. Poland freed 12,000 inmates yesterday.
\nNigeria should act now before it is too late. Let my people go. Set the
\n54 soldiers free.<\/p>\n

“If Iran can loosen the chains around the waists of 80,000 prisoners, if
\nPoland can free 12,000 inmates, Nigeria should allow its 74,297 to go
\nhome instead of tying them up for corona virus to swallow them (except
\nthose who have been sentenced to death). The time to act is now. It is
\ndreadful already to be in any Nigerian jail. But it becomes worse when
\nsubjected to thanatophobia courtesy of the dreaded Covid-19. Nigerian
\ninmates were coping with the horror of poor jail conditions but now it
\nis compounded by the fear of Corona virus. It is capable of resulting in
\nriots in our correctional centres.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The media yesterday widely reported the Minister of Internal Affairs, Rauf Aregbesola, as calling for decongestion of correctional centres in order to prevent the dreaded Covid-19 from spreading into them.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-news"],"yoast_head":"\nCOVID-19: MURIC BACKS AREGBESOLA ON PRISON DECONGESTION - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/other-news\/covid-19-muric-backs-aregbesola-on-prison-decongestion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"COVID-19: MURIC BACKS AREGBESOLA ON PRISON DECONGESTION - 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