From Yakubu Mustapha Minna
No fewer than forty inmates awaiting trial in Minna Medium Security Prison at Tunga cannot trace their case files in the legal unit of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIIID) of the Police Command in Niger State.
Consequently, most of the inmates have been in detention for the past six years on capital offences ranging from criminal conspiracy, armed robbery, rapes, culpable homicide and other heinous crimes.
This was observed during the annual visit to the prisons by the Chief Justice of Niger State, Justice Maria Zhukogi who said that their case files could not be traced at the legal unit of the SCIID and office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) in the office of the Anthony General in the Ministry of Justice.
Investigation revealed that as a result of their missing files they were just languishing in the prison custody for the past six years without trial due to lack of evidence for their speedy prosecution in the court of jurisdiction.
Apparently, it was discovered that a number of inmates have not been taken to court since their first appearance in some of the magistrate courts that remanded them holding on the presence of Police investigation into the matter.
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