Nigeria
A judge in Nigeria’s southern Delta State wants governors in the country to sign warrants for persons on death row.
According to Judge Marshal Umukoro, doing so will help decongest Nigeria’s prisons which has over 1,600 inmates on death row, according to statistics from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
The judge also avers that doing so will help deter people from committing crimes that will land them such punishment. He was delivering a lecture titled, ‘The Judiciary and Criminal Justice System,’ at an institution in the city of Ibadan.
His position is in sharp contrast to that of international right groups like Amnesty International (AI) who have repeatedly called for the abolishing of the death penalty.
The most recent executions in Nigeria were in late December 2016 when three prisoners were killed in Edo State. AI called on the state government to abolish the executions describing the Edo case a ‘‘backward step in global trends towards abolishing death penalty.’‘
Africa’s most populous nation still has executions on their law books and it is applicable for persons convicted for murder and armed robbery.
Before executions are carried out after conviction, state governors have to approve the action. Local media reports that most governors have also commuted death sentences to life imprisonment. Lagos State on Wednesday approved death penalty for kidnappers, a move AI has swiftly condemned.
2. We are calling on Nigerian authorities not to carry out further executions of death row inmates
— Amnesty Int. Nigeria (AmnestyNigeria) December 30, 2016GovernorObaseki
5. Stopping executions and doing away with #death penalty does’nt mean criminals go unpunished. #Edo
— Amnesty Int. Nigeria (AmnestyNigeria) December 30, 2016GovernorObaseki
6. It is essential that human rights standards including allowing all appeals to be completed in all stages of criminal #justice. #Edo
— Amnesty Int. Nigeria (@AmnestyNigeria) December 30, 2016
01:06
Liberia: French court hands former rebel leader 30-year prison sentence
00:52
Dani Alves released on bail amidst rape conviction appeal
01:36
South Africa: No arrest imminent for embattled speaker of parliament until April 2
Go to video
Prosecutors allege South Africa's Parliament speaker took $135,000 and a wig in bribes
01:09
Suspects in Moscow attack appear in court
01:06
A sigh of relief after nearly 300 abducted schoolchildren freed in Nigeria