In the spirit of the New Year celebrations, 12 prisoners have regained their freedom from the Uyo Minimum Custodial Centre, following intervention by Hon. Nse Essien, the state House of Assembly member representing Onna state constituency, Akwa Ibom State.
Essien, who had in the last seven years demonstrated this humanitarian gesture with a total of 189 prisoners freed during the period, explained that the yearly ritual was borne out of his compassionate disposition to the less-privileged in the spirit of the Yuletide season.
LEADERSHIP gathered that those released to breathe the air of freedom, were convicts, who were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, but with option of fines ranging between N100, 000 to N200,000 respectively.
And the lawmaker offered to defray the fines on behalf of the beneficiaries to the tune of N1.5million, and advised them to live above board outside the confines of prison in order not to return to the custodial centre as societal outlaws.
He said, “In the last seven years, I have been doing this as part of my project as a lawmaker, to help make meaning out of those ones perceived to be bad actors that could never be reformed to become agents of positive change in the society.
“You should know that believing in self-worth, is the major decider as to who you become tomorrow. Being a prisoner is not the end of your life; it’s part of the challenges of life to make you greater in future.
“Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, left the prison to become the President of Nigeria. Nelson Mandela, also left the prison to become the first President of the post-apartheid South Africa.
“So, you should erase the shame and avoid the temptation of returning to this centre by respecting the human dignity in you by turning a new leaf to become change agents of peace and development to our society,” he stressed.
The assistant controller of corrections (ACC), Mr Ebereonwu Ogueri, commended the lawmaker for the gesture, describing his benevolence as highly commendable and in line with the dictate of the God Almighty.
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