A week before the end of his tenure in May 2019, the then Governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi, pardoned an official of the Oyo State Ministry of Justice, Yewande Oyediran, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for killing her husband, Lowo.
Oyediran, who was a lawyer, was in November 2017, convicted for manslaughter by Justice Muntar Abimbola of the Oyo State High Court, sitting in Ibadan, Oyo State.
She killed her husband with a knife after a disagreement on February 2, 2016, at their residence in the Akobo area of Ibadan. The disagreement was said to have arisen after Yewande accused her late husband of infidelity.
However, a few days before leaving office, Governor Ajimobi granted the convict amnesty.
Speaking with The PUNCH on the telephone on Sunday, the Attorney-General of Oyo State under Ajimobi, Mr. Seun Abimbola, said the governor had the constitutional right to grant amnesty to any convict.
He, however, said Ajimobi did not exercise the power arbitrarily as it was being insinuated.
Abimbola said on the day the convict was pardoned, 49 other persons were also freed by Ajimobi.
The former commissioner for justice said a committee was set up to look into the petitions of 400 persons who had pleaded for clemency.
He said the committee comprised commissioners, officials of the Department of State Services and other government agencies which then advised the government.