General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, on Sunday commended the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Ayotunde Phillips, for freeing 233 prisoners.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Phillips had on September 18, freed 233 inmates from Kirikiri Medium and Maximum Security Prisons in Lagos, during her visit to the facilities.
Adeboye gave the commendation during a special prayer session for judges and lawyers in the state at the church headquarters in Ebute Metta, Lagos.
“When I heard the news that the Chief Judge of Lagos State released some prisoners, my heart leapt for joy.
“The last time I was in Kirikiri Prisons, I found out that if some inmates had been convicted for offences they committed, the maximum sentence would have been three years, but they have been in prison for more than 12 years awaiting trial.
“If it were to be in some developed countries, the prisoners would have sued government for robbing them of nine years of their lives,” he said.
Adeboye observed that convicts often left prisons worse off.
“Maybe we have not discovered a better way of dealing with some criminals, the only person I know that can change a prisoner on a permanent basis is Jesus.
“There are some people that are in prison because they do not have anyone who would speak for them or defend them,” the clergyman observed.
Justice Bola Okikioloyinile of Lagos State Judiciary later told journalists that the prayer session was aimed at having fruitful legal activities in the state.
Also speaking, a lawyer and human rights activist, Mr. Wale Ogunade, advised lawyers to always be on the side of justice.
