Fashola inaugurates council on Prerogative of Mercy

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, yesterday, inaugurated a seven-man Advisory Council to the state government on Prerogative of Mercy, with the responsibility of recommending convicted criminals in the state for pardon.
The governor also signed into law, a bill amending the 2007 Reform Commission Amendment Law.
Inaugurating the council at the Lagos House,  Fashola said the work of the advisory council was critical to government’s commitment to effectively discharge its responsibility of maintaining law and order in the state.
He said the council, to be chaired by the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye, would help in the effective implementation of the state’s recently amended criminal law, “which until recently had no room for the role of parole, which according to the justice system is an institutional body of legal process.”
The governor noted that the council would assist the state address the problem of prison congestion, as it would provide grounds for the release of some prisoners, especially those who had been fully rehabilitated.
He said “The Justice system is one vehicle through which law and order is enforced in the state. Its objective is not only to punish those who transgressed our laws but also reform and rehabilitate them into the society.”