Bayelsa: ‘Why Sylva’s Running Mate Was Released From Prison’

The Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS) has explained why a former ex-militant leader and deputy governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the November 11 polls in Bayelsa State, Joshua Maciver, was released from prison.

Naija News recalls that reports had emerged claiming that the APC deputy governorship candidate was sentenced over a criminal offense, but he had yet to complete his jail term.

According to the reports, Maciver was not among the Niger Delta militants that were granted amnesty following the proclamation by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua-led Federal Government.

But in a leaked document titled ‘To whom it may concern,’ the Controller-General of Corrections, Haliru Nababa, said Maciver had no pending prison sentence obligation.

He stated that Maciver was granted amnesty alongside other Niger Delta militants by the late Yar’Adua.

In the letter dated February 2, 2022, and addressed to Benjamin Ogbara, the lawyer to Maciver, the prison service boss said the amnesty proclamation ended Maciver’s prison sentence at the Kaduna Prisons.

The document read, “This is to confirm that Mr. Joshua Maciver, who was serving a prison sentence in Kaduna Prisons following his conviction in charge number FHC/KD/119C/2004, on the 26th of February, 2006, was granted amnesty alongside other Niger Delta militants by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

“This is pursuant to the Amnesty Proclamation dated the 25th of June, 2009, in exercise of the powers vested on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under section 175 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“He is, therefore, no longer under any legal obligation to continue to serve the prison sentence.”