The Chief Judge of Kogi State, Justice Nasir Ajana has expressed dissatisfaction with the management of Kabba prisons for flouting his directive to conduct medical examination on an inmate even as he granted bail to two awaiting trial inmates.
Ajanah made his dissatisfaction known on Tuesday while reviewing the warrants of 36 awaiting trial inmates at the Kabba medium security prisons.
The chief judge also directed the prison authority to conduct psychiatric evaluation within two weeks on two inmates, Friday Olorunfemi and Abdullahi Umoru saying, “The earlier a man knows his fate the better.”
Ajana said that his earlier directive to conduct medical examination on Olorunfemi if it was obeyed would have stopped his health from deteriorating, while the mental condition of Abdullahi Umoru who allegedly killed his brother and reported himself to the police had worsened.
Ajanah who said that from the brief from the prison officials, Umoru now eats his faeces and mattresses and had become violent and a threat to other inmates.
The chief judge granted bail to Dare Timothy and Lanre Aremu standing trial for two years without trial for culpable homicide and rape.
He said that unlike the Koton-Karfe prison, Kabba prison was being under-utilized saying that it was built to accommodate 200 inmates but presently houses 71 comprising 35 convicts and 36 awaiting trials inmates.
According to him the two cases reviewed were for “very serious offenses like culpable homicide and armed robbery. That’s why we could not release any of them. In as much as we owe the accused persons a duty to ensure that they have a fair trial, we also owe the community a duty to ensure that they are safe from any criminal activities, “ he said.
