In the spirit of Christmas, the Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Wednesday pardoned six convicted inmates and commuted the death sentence of three others to life imprisonment.

Sanwo-Olu was said to have signed two executive orders — Executive Commutation of Death Sentence Order and Executive Grant of Clemency Order — for the directives to take immediate effect.

The Lagos State Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy was said to have considered applications from convicted inmates and upon consideration, recommended the commutation of death sentences to life imprisonments for three convicted inmates. The inmates are Muhammed Abdulkadiri, Moses Akpan and Sunday Okondo.

The six pardoned inmates are Bestman Dennar, Wasiu Jimoh, Augustine Opara, Folakemi Osin, Rebecca Danladi and Njoku Ogechi.

The executive orders were said to have been delivered to the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Moyosore Onigbanjo, who would deliver them to the prisons service for action.

Speaking on the two orders at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina, Lagos, where he observed the Christmas Day service with his family, the governor urged Nigerians to have the attitude of gratitude.

He said, “As a nation and as a state, it is only appropriate for us to count our blessings and reflect on those things that have happened to us in the course of the year and how we can improve them and be better citizens.

“For us as a state, it is also a season of giving back. So, I have also signed a small release of some convicts that we have in the various prisons; people who have been given death sentences have been reduced to life sentences, and some who have been jailed for minor offences have also been given warning and I have asked that they should be pardoned.”

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