A businesswoman, who was on Tuesday released from a correction centre in Zamfara, owe her thanks to the directive by the federal government that states decongest their prisons to curtail the spread of the coronavirus [Covid-19] pandemic.
Following the directives, the Zamfara State Government pardoned 54 prisoners and one of them was the businesswoman, Mrs Ladidi Simon.
According to Mrs Simon, she was jailed in 2017 because she could not settle the sum of N11m she owed to some people.
She said was buying and selling essential commodities before she landed in jail, adding that she was taken to court and jailed after she was unable to pay back the loan she collected from her business partners.
Speaking during the release, the Controller in charge of the Gusau Correctional centre, Alhaji Sani Adamu Patiskum, on Tuesday, said 22 prisoners were pardoned by FG and the remaining 32 were pardoned by the state government.
In his speech, the commissioner of Justice, Barrister Nura Ibrahim Zarumi who represented Governor Matawalle at the occasion, said the state government was also planning to release another batch of 50 prisoners in due course.
He maintained that the released persons would be given cash assistance by the state government to enable them to fend for themselves when they go back to their respective towns.
Barrister Nura called on those who have been pardoned to be of good behaviour and desist from committing crimes.
One of the released prisoners, Mrs Ladidi Simon, said she was jailed in 2017 because she could not settle the sum of N11m she owed to some people.
According to Ladidi, she was a businesswoman who was buying and selling essential commodities, adding that, she was taken to court and subsequently jailed as she was unable to pay back the loan she collected from her business partners.
