Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has granted state pardon to 26 condemned inmates on death row in the State.

Akeredolu commuted the death sentence of the condemned inmates who were convicted by various courts in the State and awaiting execution to life imprisonment.

18 other convicts serving various jail terms across the various Correctional facilities in the State were also beneficiaries of the Governor’s gesture, which was made to commemorate the 61 anniversary of Nigeria as an independent country.

While charging them to be of good conduct and live a crime-free life, Akeredolu urged the public not to discriminate against them as they reintegrate back to the society.

According to a statement issued and signed by Richard Olatunde, the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, the governor was exercising his power of Prerogative of Mercy as enshrined in Section 212(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended.

The statement reads: “In exercise of the powers conferred on him by Paragraph (d) of sub-section (1) of Section 212 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as Amended, Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, has granted State pardon to 18 convicted inmates.

The Governor also commutted to life imprisonment twenty six (26) other inmates who were condemned to death by the various Courts in the state.”

The affected convicts were said to have earned the Governor’s Prerogative of Mercy after they were discovered to have shown remorse and had been of good conduct at the correctional centres.