By Olasunkanmi Akoni & Monsur Olowoopejo
Lagos State Government, through the Office of Public Defender, OPD, has been able to get court judgments free of charge for 1,985 out of 4,860 cases of prison inmates who could not afford the services of private legal practitioners over various criminal offences within the last 10 years.

The Permanent Secretary/Solicitor-General, state Ministry of Justice, Mr. Lawal Pedro, disclosed this while addressing the media on the activities of his office as well as to mark the 10th anniversary of OPD, held in Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos.

According to Pedro, as part the anniversary activities, OPD will be visiting the prisons and remand homes across the metropolis and would be taking up 125 fresh cases of inmates.

He said: “In its bid to ensure that the constitutional presumption of innocence of accused persons until found guilty is upheld, the Office offered legal representation to inmates and accused persons who cannot afford the services of private legal practitioners.

“Between 2000 till date a total of 4,860 cases were received by the office. We were able to get 1,985 judgments. These criminal matters include murder, manslaughter, armed robbery, robbery, stealing and malicious damage.”

Lawal added that OPD makes quarterly visits to prisons such as Ikoyi, Kirikiri and Badagry prisons with a view to providing free legal representation as well as decongest the prisons.

He explained that most of the inmates who were rescued included those were released and could not perfect their bail term, “because bail does not come automatically”

Lawal revealed that in 2007 OPD realized the need to provide legal representation to accused persons who were being arrested on daily basis by the officers of Kick Against Indiscipline, KAI adding that from 2007 till date OPD secured the release of over 1,032 people who would otherwise have been thrown into jail.

He said: “From 2000 to 2010 the office received a total of 10,883 petitions; out which a total of 7,597 were successfully resolved. Out of a total of 4, 860 cases instituted in court 2,306 have been successfully concluded.

“These civil matters included those cases that bother on wrongful dismissal, breach of contract, unpaid salaries and entitlements, workers compensation among others. Others include divorce cases, custody/ maintenance of children, processing of letters of administration for clients who lost their bread winners and unable to support themselves financially.”

Lawal also added that, OPD was able to collect and facilitate the collection of the total sum of N63, 841,791.64 on behalf of its clients within the period under review.