Bauchi State Chief Judge, Justice Rabi Talatu Umar, has released 14 awaiting trial inmates.
This is has she expressed concerns over the sorry state of trial records of inmates at the Bauchi Custodial Centres.
Umar also noted with worry that some of the awaiting trial inmates have not been arraigned for years, a situation that makes their records go out of hands.
Speaking on Friday while releasing 14 awaiting trial inmates at the custodial centre, he attributed their release to God’s intervention in their cases.
Justice Umar was undertaking routine periodic visits to correctional centres across the State to review the cases of awaiting trial inmates, especially those that have stayed long in those centres without trial.
During the visit, the Chief Judge was at the Tafawa Balewa, Darazo, Misau, Azare, Bogoro, Ningi, Jama’are and Bauchi where she released five (5) inmates at Tafawa Balewa, two (2) each at Misau and Azare, while 14 regained freedom from the Bauchi centre.
None of the inmates at Jamare, Ningi, Darazo and Bogoro were able to regain freedom during the visit.
The Chief Judge, while commenting on some of the awaiting trial inmates whose litigation records were completely out of sight, remarked, “We don’t know who brought them here”.
He counseled the released awaiting trial inmates to find legitimate means of livelihood.