Lagos: Sanwo-Olu pardons Funke Akindele-Bello following lockdown conviction
Nollywood actor Funke Akindele-Bello, following her conviction for breaking coronavirus lockdown rules, has been granted a full pardon by the Lagos State Government.
A court issued a sentence against Akindele-Bello and her husband Abdulrasheed for organising a house party while Lagos was enforcing COVID-19 restrictions. But the couple, in accordance with the kind of court ruling that was issued against them, were not remanded in prison custody.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu announced on Friday that the couple are now fully pardoned.
The state government said 56 inmates were released from various correctional centres.
State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Moyosore Onigbanjo, said Governor Sanwo-Olu acted based on the recommendations of the State Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy under the powers conferred on the Governor by Section 212 (1) & (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.
The 56 released inmates were, according to Onigbanjo, recommended by the Advisory Council after due examination of their case files and consideration of the length of time served, the gravity of offence, old age and ill-health among other parameters.
The eight-member Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy, headed by Dr. Abayomi Finnih, was inaugurated Governor Sanwo-Olu in December 2019.
