NIGERIA: OVER 3,000 PRISONERS ON DEATH ROW AMID CALLS TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

October 16, 2023:

Members of the international community on October 10, 2023 urged again Nigeria to abolish the death penalty. They argued that capital punishment is outdated, does not stop crime, and tasked the Federal Government with reviewing the policy. 
This was at the screening of a movie, ‘Shepherds and Butchers’, hosted by Avocats Sans Frontières France (ASF France), with support from the French Embassy and the Australian High Commission in Nigeria, in commemoration of the 2023 World Day Against the Death Penalty, in Abuja, on October 10. 
Speaking to journalists, Charge D’affairs, Australian High Commission to Nigeria, Lean Johnston, recalled that Australia abolished the death penalty in 1968, describing capital punishment as state violence against its own citizens. She said: “To be honest, to us, it is inhumane. So, it’s very important for us to work with other governments to put an end to this cruel treatment. Death penalty does diminish human dignity. When you take the life of someone else, whether it’s done as a criminal act, or whether it’s done by the state, it does diminish human dignity.”
Country Director, ASF France Nigeria, Angela Uwandu Uzoma-Iwuchukwu, said though more than 3,000 Nigerians are on death penalty, the number is not exact.
While advising the Nigerian government to emulate Ghana by abolishing capital punishment, she called for implementation of alternatives by putting in place an official moratorium on executions, while working towards abolition of the death penalty. Also, Ambassador of France to Nigeria, Emmanuelle Blatmann, called for an official moratorium on executions.  She observed that France considers the death penalty as unfair and inhumane, adding that it is also irreparable. According to her, shedding the blood of another human cannot amend a crime that has been committed.
In a related development, Deji Ajare, Executive Director, Sterling Law Centre, described death penalty as a violation of inherent right to life, constituting cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment. 
“It is our steadfast position that no judicial system should have the power to take a life, even in response to heinous crimes,” he said in a statement.