JUST IN: Nine Oyo EndSARS protesters freed after three years

Tuesday saw the release of nine people who had been detained in Oyo Agodi Prison since 2020.

Recall that the “Oyo9,” whose names are Adeshina Muyiwa, Ikechuckwu Eze, Ariyo Sodiq, Ikenna Amaechi, Oyewole Olumide, Ariyo Afeez, Taoreed Abiodun, Adekunle Moruf, and Rasheed Tiamiyu, were charged with crimes related to the 2020 demonstration against the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad unit

This occurs just 24 hours after the chief judge of Oyo State ordered the release of 58 prisoners who had been held for extended periods of time in state prisons.

Only three months prior, in October 2022, it had also been reported that about 39 people who had been deptained in connection with the #EndSARS protest were still awaiting trial.

Two of them were released from Lagos Kiri Kiri Maximum Prison five days after the report.

Justice Munga Abimbola, the chief judge of Oyo State, released some prisoners on Monday after declaring that prolonged detention violated people’s constitutional rights and reiterated the legal principle that “a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty.”

The CJ made this statement while on a three-day tour of prisons in the state, which included a stop at the Agodi Custodial Center of the Nigerian Correctional Service.

Confirm the release of the nine persons, an activist and the Oyo State leader of the Take It Back Movement, an organisation that had been calling for the release of the Oyo nine, Solomon Emiola, told The PUNCH, “We are just returning from the prison, the nine of them have gone home with their families.”

The TIB members had yesterday protested the continued detention of the Oyo9 following the release of the 58 detainees. They maintained that the Oyo9 should have been part of the people to be released.

The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, Professor Oyelowo Oyewo, could not be reached for comments, as calls to his known line did not go through.

The News Agency of Nigeria also confirmed the release of the nine persons, noting that they were pardoned and released as a part of the exercise being conducted by the State Chief Judge to decongest the prisons.

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