Bauchi Chief Judge Frees Varsity Student Jailed Over Failure To Repay N34,000 Loan

A 300 level student of the Bauchi State University (BASUG), Gadau was apprehended by security operatives for his failure to repay a N34, 000 agricultural loan he acquired for farming during the preceding rainy season.

The student, Ahmad Abubakar, collected the said amount from an individual in Azare for the purpose of rainfed farming but was unable to harvest the produce over non-yields due to the early cessation of rainfall this year, which also affected a vast number of farmers across the state.

The State Chief Judge, Justice Rabi Talatin Umar, heard about the plight of the student at Azare Correctional Centre during her quarterly routine visits to review cases of awaiting trial persons (ATPs).

The student has during his weeklong stay at the correctional centre happened to miss two examinations, despite that his father is a well-to-do in the state, with a booming business of oil and gas marketing.

Justice Rabi Umar during the exercise, offset the N34, 000 debt and set the student free, but with a carry over of two examination papers at the varsity.

Meanwhile, at the Darazo Correctional Centre, the Bauchi Chief Judge was told about the efforts by the Local Government Council Caretaker Chairman to renovate one of the centre’s structures for the admission of would be female inmates, which the service in the town hitherto lacks, as well the reactivation of the centre’s borehole by the Darazo council chief.

Across the six correctional centres she visited during the two-day review exercise, the Chief Judge released 17 awaiting trial persons (ATPs), and granted bail to others.

A breakdown of those released by the Chief Judge indicated that 11 were released from Bauchi Custodial Centre, two each from Darazo, Ningi and Jama’are, while two and one were bailed from Ningi and Misau correctional centres respectively.

Justice Umar while releasing and granting the bail to ATPs, charged them to be of good and exemplary conduct upon rejoining the larger society, and asked them to look for jobs or skills to fend for livelihood.

The Chief Judge also summoned nine Sharia court judges to her office for what was seen as dereliction of duty on their parts.

The Sharia court judges were absent during the review visit, and nowhere to be found for explanation on cases before them, a situation that compounds review of cases by the Chief Judge, thereby slowing down administration of Justice.

Such absenteeism by some of the Shari’a court judges, especially during the routine quarterly visits by the Chief Judge, has being an ongoing phenomenon for some time, a situation that made the State Grand Khadi, Khadi Umar Limanci, whose judges duties were under his purview, for the first time to join the cases review committee to see things for himself.