The First Lady of Nassarawa State, Mairo Al-Makura, has secured the freedom of no fewer than 70 inmates of Lafia Prison.
She reportedly did so through the payment of the fines for their offences.
Mrs. Al-Makura, who was represented by the former Secretary to the Nasarawa State Government, Hajia Zainab Ahmed, said the inmates had been incarcerated for a long time.
She advised them against going back into crime or keeping bad friends.
She said “I am greatly delighted to be here to witness the release of 70 prison inmates, whose fines have already been paid, from the Lafia Prison.
“I have confirmed from the prison authorities that the inmates have been reformed and are ready to be released into the larger society.”
She, however, called on the members of the society to accept and embrace the inmates and give them all the necessary support to enable them to live crime-free lives.
Punch Newspaper reports that one of the ex-inmates, 25-yrs-old Abdullahi Musa, said he was incarcerated for armed robbery.
Also speaking, a 21-year-old man, Michael Marcus, said he had spent four months in the prison custody over his involvement in robbery, while 23-year-old Abdulraman Abubakar said he was remanded for stealing N400,000.
Each of the former inmates was given N5,000 by the First Lady for transportation home. She also donated 10 bags of rice, five gallons of groundnut oil, five gallons of palm oil and cartons of seasonings to the five prisons in the state.
