Kogi Acting Chief Judge visits prison, dispenses justice

By Adeleye Kunle

An inmate of Okene Prison in Kogi State claimed smoking marijuana relieved him of emotional pain.

Mark Audu, a mechanical engineer and graduate of the Federal University of Science and Technology Minna, Niger State stated this when he pleaded for leniency during his encounter with the Kogi State Acting Chief Judge, Justice Josia Majebi who was on a prison tour as part of prison decongestion programme.

While responding to a question on why he is smoking weed Audu, from Ajaokuta, Kogi State, said: “I was always missing my father, so when I smoke weed it makes me sleep fully.”

The inmate who was admitted into the prison on 19th September 2022 was charged with intimidation, mischief and theft at Obangede Magistrate Court in Okehi Local Government, pleaded for leniency promising not to smoke weed again if he is left off the hook.

An officer at the medium-security custodial centre had explained that the inmate who was awaiting trial was brought to the correctional centre by his mother

According to him: “This is not the first time his mother would bundle him into the vehicle and bring him here. If he is not smoking, he behaves reasonably well; but the moment he leaves here, he will go back to it