Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has awarded state pardons to 26 condemned criminals on death row.

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

The Governor’s generosity, which was made to honor Nigeria’s 61st anniversary as an independent country, also benefited 18 other inmates serving varied imprisonment terms across the state’s numerous correctional facilities.

Akeredolu encouraged the public not to discriminate against them as they reintegrated back into society, while charging them to be of good conduct and live a crime-free life.

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

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.