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Death row inmates: Lawyers knock interior minister

Human rights lawyers have criticised the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, for calling on state governors to sign execution orders for inmates on death…

Human rights lawyers have criticised the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, for calling on state governors to sign execution orders for inmates on death row as part of the antidote to congestion in correctional facilities in the country.

Speaking at the official commissioning of the Osun State Command Headquarters of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS) in Osogbo on July 23, 2021, Aregbesola stated that out of 68,747 inmates currently housed in correctional facilities nationwide, 50, 992 of them are awaiting trial, while 17,755 have been convicted and are serving sentences.

Speaking on the challenge of congestion in correctional centres, the minister revealed that their actual capacity of 57,278 had been exceeded by 18 per cent, adding that if governors signed execution orders for inmates on death row, it would help to resolve the problem of congestion. There are at least, 2, 500 persons on death row.

Reacting, Chief Gabriel Ojuma, the convener of United Action for Democracy (UAD), said constitutionally the state governors had been given the discretional power to show mercy on condemned prisoners or to sign their death warrant.

According to Chief Ojumah, it is not within the powers of the minister to direct or call on the governors to sign execution orders for inmates on death row, adding that it is only if the governors deem it fit in any particular circumstance that they can sign the death warrant.

Chief Ojumah suggested that the process of securing bail should be made simple because an accused person is presumed innocent according to Section 36 (5) of the 1999 Constitution: “Every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed to be innocent until he is proven guilty.”

He also advised the federal government to build more correctional centres nationwide and to ensure that they are fit for human habitation; not for dogs.

For his part, the convener of Access to Justice (A2J), Joseph Otteh, denounced the interior minister’s proposal as outrageous because it treats human life as intrinsically expendable object or commodity which may be dispensed with in order to achieve a better representation of prison demographics.

Otteh said, “But human life – whether of persons under sentence of death or not – is far too valuable than to be used as a means of reconfiguring the prison population, or reducing it, and it is unfortunate that the minister would make this kind of obnoxious call.”

He said A2J was strongly opposed to the infliction of the death penalty, particularly given the vulnerabilities and frailties of Nigeria’s judicial system, as it was both extreme and its sanctions irreversible after it is executed, even when errors are afterwards discovered.

He further said if the minister’s call was heeded, many death row convicts who had pending appeals against their convictions would be at risk of execution even before their appeals were determined following administrative errors, and that it would be unlawful executions.

He explained that, “Besides this, it is important to note that even from the statistics reported by the minister, it is clear that the problem of congestion is not as a result of an uptick in the number of sentenced persons, including those on death row. The congestion is caused by the disturbing demographic of inmates who are awaiting trial (pre-trial or under-trial inmates), who account for 74 per cent of the total inmate population.”

What government ought to do, according to the A2J convener, is to address the chronic problem of pre-trial detention in order to manage the incidence of prison congestion; not to request that inmates be executed in order to reduce it.

On his part, Deji Ajare Esq said many factors accounted for the high level of prison congestion, and that part of them included political persecution and the misuse of criminal justice institutions.

Ajare said, “The arrests and jailing of political and civil rights activists, including those agitating for the restructuring of Nigeria, #EndSARS protesters of police violence, members of religious groups protesting the disrespect of court decisions to release their incarcerated members, or simply those clamouring for better political governance all aggravate the prison congestion problem.

“These are low hanging fruits and government can, by simply accommodating dissent as part of the democratic process, alongside respecting other civil rights, ameliorate the pre-trial population of correctional centres.”

However, Erick Onyeka Esq supported the minister, saying, “There obviously is no use having the death penalty in our law if we don’t intend to implement same. The need for death sentence is now very pronounced in the light of violent killings across the country.”

Another lawyer who does not want her name in print said, “If I were a governor, I will never sign a death warrant. How do I sleep knowing I just sent somebody to the hangers? He who is without sin should cast the first stone. It’s as good as killing the person yourself.

“Nobody can give life and so no one should take anyone’s life. Instead of death warrant, how about expanding the prisons’ capacities. They can’t do no harm being locked up in prison.

“We should also attack what has increased crime in the country. Instead of debating death or no death warrant, can the governor’s do more to curb poverty? In Nigeria today the politicians commit more crimes; who signs their death warrant? The governors are no saints; they are all guilty of what some of those criminals are guilty of.”

Other lawyers argued that some of those on death row were victims of unfair trials whose convictions were based on evidence obtained from torture, and that executing them would be injustice.

 

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