Rehabilitate ex-convicts, judge urges with lawyer

Justice Abimbola Obaseki-Adejumo, the presiding judge of the Federal
High Court, Ibadan Division, has advised lawyers to take active part
in the rehabilitation of their clients who had become ex-convicts.
Obaseki-Adejumo said this Monday while delivering judgment in a case
of 11 Indian hemp sellers who were sentenced to various jail terms at
the court sitting at Adeoyo in Ibadan.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that drug-related cases have
been on the increase in recent times in the law courts.
This had generated many reactions on the solution to be employed in
tackling the menace.
Obaseki-Adejumo said the society was experiencing an upsurge in hard
drugs-related crimes because most of the criminals were jobless.
"When the convicts complete the jail terms, lawyers who are their
counsel do not do a follow-up on how they are positively re-absorbed
into the society,'' she said.
The judge further stated that lawyers should not only be concerned
about their pockets, but should also fulfill the duty of helping in
the reformation of convicts.
"As partners in social reformation, you have the duty to help
rehabilitate ex-convicted drug addicts and Indian hemp traders by
helping to provide lawful trades for them,'' she said.
Obaseki-Adejumo said the ex-convicts would not go back to their old
bad ways when they were empowered and gainfully employed.
"The court has encouraged the Nigerian Prisons Service to provide
convicts with trade and vocational training before the completion of
their respective jail terms,'' she said.(NAN)