In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kaduna State Government has released some prisoners in its efforts to decongest some Correctional Centres. In this interview, Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, AISHA DIKKO, sheds light on the pardon and what Government is doing to curb sexual abuse and bring culprits to justice.
Recently, Governor Nasir El-Rufai ordered for the release of some prisoners and inmates. Under which provision of the constitution or laws of Kaduna State did the governor grant this amnesty?
Section 212 of the constitution gives the Governor the power to grant pardons. There is a Prerogative of Mercy Committee in the state which meets about four or five times a year, usually before national day celebrations like Independence Day, Democracy Day and at the end of the year to consider recommendations from prison authorities for pardons of convicts based on criteria like ill-health, old age and those who have less than three years to serve and have been of good behaviour. Based on these recommendations from the committee the Governor exercises his power to grant pardons to deserving convicts.
But because of the circumstances that we are in now, the COVID-19 Pandemic, the President and Attorney General of the Federation proposed that all States’ Prerogative of Mercy Committees convene and consider convicts who fit the criteria for release for Governors to exercise their power of pardon. So, it was based on these criteria that the committee met and approved the convicts and forwarded to the Governor and he approved the release of 72 convicts in 3 correctional centers in the state.
The second exercise was conducted by the Chief Judge of Kaduna State. The Judges in the state also visit the correctional centers regularly because there are a lot of Awaiting Trial inmates with minor offences in the correctional centers. The Chief Judge instructed three Judges to visit the three Correctional Centres in Kaduna, Zaria and Kafanchan and go through the list of Awaiting Trial inmates with minor offences and release deserving inmates.
In Kaduna Correctional Centre, a total of 98 inmates were released by Justice Kurada. In Zaria, 49 convicted inmates that have six months or less to serve as their prison terms were also released by Justice Ladan andin Kafanchan Correctional Centre, six awaiting trial inmates were released by Justice Dakka.
So, there have been two sets of releases; 72 convicts were pardoned by the State Governor on the recommendation of the President and 98 Awaiting Trial Inmates were released by the Chief Judge of Kaduna State.
Were these prisoners and inmates tested for COVID-19 before they were released into the larger society?
Presently, there has not been any reported case of COVID-10 in Kaduna Correctional Centres. The whole reason for the exercise is to decongest the correctional centres. There is congestion in the correctional centers in the country and there are many awaiting trial inmates as well. So, to prevent the spread of COVID-19 because we all aware that it spreads faster in crowded spaces the decongestion of the correctional centers was very important.
The Comptroller Prisons in Kaduna has also informed me that because of COVID-19, they have been instructed to stop admitting new inmates in the Correctional Centres.
So, what happens if someone is convicted in court, where will he or she be taken to?
Presently we are agreeing to bail applications to deserving cases with reliable sureties. Regarding other serious offences we request for the courts permission to remand them with the police pending the provision of an alternative arrangements.
But this decongestion exercise is being criticised in some quarters as giving priority to safety over security. That by freeing convicts en mass because of COVID-19, the Government is unwittingly paying less attention to security and crime. How correct it this perception?
This perception is wrong. What we have done is to take steps because of the extraordinary circumstances that we have found ourselves in, to protect the prisoners from the disease. This is happening not only in Kaduna State or Nigeria but all over the world. The prisoners that were released were convicted for minor offences. None of them has a case of homicide or any serious offence. But all the prisoners that have serious offences are still in the Correctional Centres. So, we are very mindful of the security of the society and we will not release people that will jeopardise it.
Femi Falana (SAN) has reportedly written to you, requesting the release of Malam Ibraheem El-Zakzaky and his wife, as part of the decongestion of the Correctional Centres to prevent the spread of the Covid-19. Are we likely to see Zakzaky out of detention soon, based on his lawyer’s appeal?
No, Malam El-Zakzaky is not eligible for release. Based on his medical record, Zakzaky is not suffering from a terminal disease. As such, he does not qualify for release because he doesn’t fit the criteria. Ill health alone is not a criterion for release of an inmate under the prison decongestion exercise. He is also undergoing trial for a capital offense, and so falls outside the criteria for the recent pardons.
At the Worlds Women’s Day, you made a passionate plea about the need to stem sexual abuse and rape in our society. How prevalent is this crime in Kaduna State and what is Government doing about it?
I will say that rape has become endemic in our society and all over the country and unfortunately there is societal stigma to rape victims. For this reason, it is not a crime that a lot of people admit has happened to them. But the thing about rape is that if you keep quiet, the perpetrator continues committing the crime unchallenged or unrestrained. So, what I was trying to say at the event is that, yes it is a thing of shame, especially in our society but people need to report these rapists and rape cases to enable us drastically reduce these crimes. And another thing that we have noticed is that there is a lot of pressure on victims and their families, to cover it up and it has a very adverse effect on the society. So, people need to report these cases so that perpetrators can get punished. if they know that they will tried and convicted for rape, it will be a deterrent to people who are even contemplating it.
A lot of the rape cases involve mostly young children and we have to protect them. The Government of Kaduna State will prosecute anyone found to be protecting a rapist because we have to protect our society.
Apart from stigmatisation, there is also the challenge of victims proving being raped in court because the burden of proof is on her. What is Government doing to lighten this burden for the victims in order to get justice?
There is a lot of sensitisation going on, what we are propagating is that once the rape occurs, please take the victim to the hospital for examination and collect a medical report. There are four sexual referral centres in Kaduna State in one each in Zaria and Kafanchan and two in Kaduna with staff specifically trained to treat rape victims. However, if you don’t have access to these referral centres you can take the victim to any hospital so that a medical report can be obtained which we can used as evidence in court against the rapist.
Kaduna State is also building a DNA Laboratory that can analyse any specimen from the rape victim to match it with the particular rapist’s DNA. This, I think, will help in most of our court cases because if we have that kind of evidence, it will be difficult for a rapist to disprove that he is not the culprit. It is scientific. Even before then, we are trying to buy small DNA machines to put in the hospitals, so that samples from the rape victims can be analysed.
