Death Penalty: 3,650 inmates on death row nationwide —ASF

ABUJA—In commemoration of the World Day Against Death Penalty, the Advocates Sans Frontiers, ASF, France, otherwise known as Lawyers Without Borders, yesterday, expressed its concern over the swelling number of inmates awaiting execution in various prisons across the country.
The organization, through its Country Director, Ms. Angela Uzoma-Iwuchukwu, disclosed that a total of 3,650 inmates are currently on death row in Nigeria.
It stressed that 63 of the inmates that are waiting to be executed in 11 maximum prisons across the federation, are women.
The revelation came on a day the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC and the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, threw their weight behind the call for the abolishment of capital punishment.
Speaking at a high-level technical consultation to mark the world day against death penalty, the ASF’s director, Uzoma-Iwuchukwu, noted that the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, had at a recent international engagement, revealed that Nigeria has a voluntary moratorium on death penalty.
“To us, this is a step in the right direction, but what is lacking is a policy to back up that comment that was made by the Minister.
“This is very crucial because as long as we do not have any policy paper, then executions could happen at any time, thereby, putting those over 3000 persons on death row at risk of execution at any time.
“This is very important. Nigeria has highest number of persons on death row in sub-Saharan Africa and the number keeps increasing because people are being sentenced to death everyday, even though the last execution occured in 2014. However, the risk of execution remains,” the ASF director added.
Likewise, the Legal Defence & Assistant Project, LEDAP, through its Executive Director, Mr. Chinonye Obiagwu, SAN, noted that in Africa, only 15 countries which included Nigeria, have not abolished the death penalty.
“Among those 15 countries, Nigeria has the highest number of death row prisoners as well as highest number of offences that are punishable by death.
“We are therefore worried that the death penalty regime in Nigeria is very appalling and we do hope that it will be abolished soon.”
On his part, the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Mr Anthony Ojukwu, SAN, while calling for “a complete legal abolition of capital punishment,” maintained that the continued sentencing of individuals to death remained a grave concern.
“The death penalty, as a form of state-sanctioned violence, is not only irreversible but fraught with the potential for irreparable harm.
“We cannot ignore the growing body of evidence that shows capital punishment does not serve as a deterrent to crime. Moreover, the risk of wrongful conviction, which can lead to the execution of innocent individuals, stands as one of the most tragic and indefensible failures of any justice system,” he added.
The President of NBA, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, who was represented at the occasion by the Chairman of Citizens Liberties Committee of the legal body, Mr Nuhu Egya, said there was need for the federal government to review the issue of death sentence which he described as “an outdated and ineffective form of punishment.”
He said the NBA would continue to push for reforms that would promote fair trial and humane sentencing, saying the association would also provide free legal services to individuals facing the death penalty.
Among those that participated in the event included the Australian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ms Leilani Bin-Juda and the Deputy Head of Mission of the French Embassy in Nigeria, Jean-François Hasperue.