House
of Representatives on Thursday revisited the cases of the 197 convicted
drug traffickers, who were believed not to have served their jail terms
in prison.
Rather than serve their jail terms, the
high-profile convicts reportedly walked away to the comfort of their
homes or were simply allowed to escape.
A motion sponsored by a member, Mr.
Hassan Saleh, recalled that the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency
successfully prosecuted the traffickers between 2005 and 2006, leading
to their conviction.
However, he told the House that none of the 197 suspects served their jail term in prison.
Saleh added that the report of a
committee, set up by the Federal Government in 2006 to look into the
operations of the NDLEA, also reflected the fact that the convicts did
not serve their jail terms.
The committee was headed by retired Justice Gilbert Obayan.
Part of the motion read, “It has been
alleged that about 197 persons convicted for drug trafficking-related
offences are said not to be serving their prison terms in the prisons
and this allegation was substantiated in the report of a committee set
up by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, which was headed by Justice
Gilbert Obayan (retd) in 2006.
“According to the committee’s report,
out of 143 drug convicts for the year 2006, 96 of them were never
brought to the prison, while another set of 101 drug convicts for the
year 2005 were also not taken to the prison, bringing the total to 197.
“The House is worried that persons who
were alleged to have been lawfully prosecuted by the NDLEA and convicted
by a court of law have been unlawfully released from prison thereby
undermining the nation’s criminal justice system.
“The House is disturbed that it has
become a common practice for many of our high-profile detainees and
convicts to pretend that they are ill so that they can be taken to
hospitals outside the prisons, whereas in most cases, they are in the
comfort of their homes or in tastefully furnished hospital wards.
“The House is concerned that the
Ministry of Justice has failed, neglected and refused to implement the
findings of the Justice Gilbert Obayan’s committee report on this
serious infraction on our criminal justice system.”
Lawmakers, after debating the motion,
mandated the Joint Committee on Justice, Interior, Drug/Narcotics and
Financial crimes to “determine the statistics of all those prosecuted
and convicted by the NDLEA from its inception to date and determine
where they served their terms”.
It also asked the committee to find out
the circumstances leading to the release or disappearance of the 197
detainees from prisons “and all those who were behind this unlawful and
shameful, act as contained in the Justice Obayan committee report and
recommend appropriate sanction for them.”
The motion was unanimously endorsed by the House.
PUNCH
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