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A 60-year-old Assistant Inspector of Prison, Kayode Dada, who was convicted of murder in 2006 but was granted state pardon in 2018 by former Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, has pleaded for the intervention of the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, over the non-payment of his 10 years’ salary.
Narrating his ordeal to our correspondent on Thursday, the Osun State-born prison warder from Orororuwo, Boripe Local Government Area, said he was employed into the Nigeria Prison Service now Nigeria Correctional Service in November 1990 with the service number S/N-31665 and file number 33458.
Dada said he was posted to the Ilesa Prison, now Ilesha Custodial Centre and that it was while he was serving there that he came about the incident which made him be remanded in prison for 10 years while he was kept for another 12 years on a death row.
He said “It was sometime in 1996 that the police arrested me and charged me for the murder of someone who I fought with four months after.
“The trial dragged on for 10 years and so in 2006, I was sentenced to death by an Osogbo High Court and I was moved to the correctional centre at Abeokuta where my death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the government of Olagunsoye Oyinlola in 2008.
“Ten years after, in 2018, the Osun State Government under the leadership of Rauf Aregbesola after a review of my case granted me state clemency and that was how I became a free man again.”
Dada explained that for the 10 years that he was under trial, the prison service notified him that he would be paid half salary but he did not get a dime until he bagged the death sentence.
He said, “After regaining my freedom, I have equally been trying hard to get whatever is due to me from the Federal Government but I have not made any headway.
“I was in Abuja last year, all my personal biodata including bank details were collected and they promised that they would get back to me but almost a year now, I have not heard from them.
“It was after my release from prison that I married and have two children. I have been surviving doing jobs as a guard. I need this money to facilitate my full reintegration back into society.”
He called on President Bola Tinubu, the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo and the Controller-General of Correctional Service, Haliru Nababa, to show him mercy and ensure that he got the funds to support himself and family.
