Two condemned men in Edo state prison have been freed by the Governor of Edo state, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole who granted amnesty to them in an exercise of his prerogative of mercy.
The governor said that the prisoners, Monday Odu, who was sentenced to death for conspiracy and murder while Callistus Ikem was sentenced to death for conspiracy and armed robbery were granted amnesty because they did not take the life of their victims.
Governor Oshiomhole faulted a recent claim by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) that he had signed the death warrants of Mr Ikem and another prisoner, Mr Olu Fatogun, stating that while Mr Ikem has been granted pardon and released, Mr Fatogun’s sentence has been commuted to life imprisonment.
He however explained that the two convicts he approved their death sentences were Osayinwinde Agbomien who dismembered his victim and hid the parts in several places to avoid detection and Daniel Nsofor who subjected his female victim to horrendous torture before killing her.
“We must be seen by carry out justice in all fairness” the governor said, explaining that the convicts he signed their death sentence committed gruesome murders and it will not be fair to let them live as they took other people’s lives.
He appealed to the NHRC that in matters of life and deaths, they should get their facts right before going public because, this he warns is what the international community will harp on.