Group urges Lagos govt to pardon jailed Rev. King

PATHS of Peace Initiatives, a human rights group, has called on the Lagos State Government to effect the unconditional release of Rev. King as well as grant him amnesty.

The group, who made the call in a letter to the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo- Olu, titled: ‘ Amnesty and unconditional release of condemned man of God, Rev. King, at Maiduguri prison,’ condemned the imprisonment of the Lagosbased cleric, describing it as injustice.

The national President of the group, Dandy Eze, said the group was committed to fighting for the rights of oppressed, abused and helpless Nigerians who suffered injustice in the hands of the high and mighty.

He said the group was compelled to prevail on the case of the cleric who was condemned to death in 2006, while describing his continued incarceration as a grievous injustice against humanity.

The group frowned on the over 7,000 members of Boko Haram sect who killed millions of Nigerians and were given amnesty by Nigerian government.

The group also lamented that members of the terrorist group are still being granted pardon and released from prisons and equipped with money and resources to better their lives till date, while the cleric, “whose guilt is still contestable, is left to languish in Maiduguri Prison as a condemned prisoner.”

The group kicked that between 2006 and 2009, the Lagos State Government gave amnesty and freedom to over 200 prisoners that were condemned, the majority of who were armed robbers caught in the act.

According to the group, some of the freed prisoners were notorious killers and murderers and were also sentenced in November 2006 and some in 2007. The group also lamented that the killers of the late Mrs Kudirat Abiola had been freed, saying, “the cleric who was falsely accused of murder is still in prison just because he is not connected to the government of Lagos State or Nigeria.