MORE than 500 prisoners pardoned by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo are still in jail a year later, the state-owned Sunday Times newspaper reported. Obasanjo last year ordered that prisoners who had served more than 20 years in prison be freed. But the internal affairs ministry has blocked the release of more than 500 men insisting that the 20 years should date from the prisoners’ date of conviction, the newspaper said. Many of those in jail for years have simply been on remand, and thus have not qualified under the ministry’s ruling, the newspaper said. – AFP