The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Death Penalty

  • Death of Corps member: Man to die by hanging

    A High Court sitting in Ikere-Ekiti, Ikere Local Government Area of the State yesterday sentenced  Theophilus Pius, 26,  to death by hanging for the murder of a female youth corps member, Anthonia Okeke.

    Pius, a commercial motorcyclist, reportedly colluded with others on 19th December 2008 to kidnap and later murder of Anthonia, a serving corps member at the time, in Ilawe-Ekiti who had hired him (the motorcyclist) to take her to the motor park in Ikere while going for Christmas celebrations in her hometown in Anambra State.

    Justice Adegoriola Adeleye also handed Pius a separate ten-year sentence for kidnapping late Anthonia which culminated in her  death in the hands of ritualists.

    Anthonia,  a Chemical Engineering graduate of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, was from Umuno Ndiuno  in Ezeagu Local Government area of Enugu  State.

    Justice Adeleye, had submitted that the evidence as presented Mr. Adeleye Familoni, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) at the  State Ministry of Justice, against the accused person as sufficiently useful and reliable to  convince the court that the accused person was actually guilty.

    Adeleye said: “I submit that the Prosecution Counsel has been able to prove his case beyond reasonable doubt. He has been able to establish that
    the Defendant is culpable and no criminal shall go unpunished  in the
    face of law”.

    Spokesperson for the family, Mr. Obinna Okeke, Anthonia’s elder brother, commended the judgment, saying “the verdict has proved that those with criminal intentions cannot have their ways as long as the government is determined to apply the relevant laws against them in a diligent manner”.
    Okeke  also thanked the State Ministry of Justice, the police, the human rights groups and National Youth Service Corps for pursuing  the case to “its very useful and meaningful end”.

    In his comments, the  DPP, Familoni, noted the judgment  was a victory of “light over darkness and of good against evil doers”, adding that those who desire to make money by any means would always meet a dead end

    According to him, the Justice Ministry would continue to ensure that judicial means were applied “against those with criminal tendencies in the State”.

  • Igini: We need death penalty for corruption

    Igini: We need death penalty for corruption

    In this interview, Cross River State Resident Electoral Commissioner Mike Igini, who reflects on the centenary celebrations, laments that successive governments have abandoned the governance framework bequeathed by the founding fathers. He also contends that the country needs a virile federal constitution to resolve its crises of nation-building and development. EMMANUEL OLADESU met him.

    What is your position on the centenary celebrations?

    It is an apt opportunity to ask ourselves why we abandoned the governance framework bequeathed by Sir Alhmadu Bello, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr. Nnamidi Azikiwe after series of conferences where they finally agreed to promote rapid development and settled for the federal system of government. Why is it that we have refused to reconcile ourselves and build a country of equal opportunity for all? Our reality is that, after these many years, we have not arrived at a consensual agreement of who we are, what we want to be and where we want to go. We are still grappling with the intricacies of nationhood. We are yet to be at peace with one another after 100 years. In other words, we have not realistically formulated a common acceptable shared vision that would generate common determination to achieve common goals. Every group in virtually all parts of the country is making demands on the nation and the reality of Nigeria in the 21st century is quite different. The idea of a national discourse or dialogue has not been fully embraced. We should confront our realities, accept our mistakes, correct them and move forward boldly. We can only do that by formulating an acceptable constitution.

    Can we confront the leadership challenge in Nigeria?

    In conceptualising leadership, we must first be mindful that leadership is about being effective in meeting collective goals of society. The goals that a leader wants to meet are the key to effectiveness. Now, in the leadership of nations, the goals that must be met are numerous and complex. So, no person has the capacity to meet all these goals without many informed inputs. It is the rule of the inner cycle in leadership and getting the inner cycle right that some people refer to as the core group around any leader. The history of very successful leaders is the history of competent members of the inner cycle around the leader and not having a coterie of people, who are more interested in money making and spending more time in acquiring property, instead of critical thinking on key issues of public administration.

    One of the most successful United States President of our time, Bill Clinton, had in his inner cycle exceptionally competent six Jewish Americans during his two terms as the governor of Arkansas and during his eight year s in the Presidency that recorded the highest economic records. The task of leadership is very serious. It requires knowledge and competence and inputs of different people with varied competency and proficiency. The effectiveness of leadership therefore, is reflected in the quality of advice and information, which such leadership gets and utilises from his inner cycle or think-tank. When such an nformation is provided, the leader must make optimising decisions by scanning these inputs, and considering them and their alternatives.

    The national conference is about to hold. What are your expectation?

    I agree that centrist policies are not good for our progress. This is why I advocate that, among other things, the civil society advocacy must focus on two key deliverable. These are increasing bottom-up participation for development through increased subsidiarity and improving the control mechanisms for making the leadership at all levels of the three arms of governance more accountable and less susceptible to impunity. This is necessary, since all federal states are so created because of an acceptance of the diversity of the components of such states and an embrace of the strengths, which such diversity offers to the whole. I believe we have retreated from that fact because we have acquired a mind-set of wealth sharing rather than wealth creation. There should be further devolution of responsibilities from the centre that is overcrowded with obligations on matters that should be handled better at local levels. The colonial government had a strategic interest in centrism and only fostered federalism to give a satisfying semblance of diversity to the subjects. But, having become independent, rather than invest in each region to become more self-sufficient and self-sustaining, the post independent elite, particularly from the Second Republic, have concentrated on amassing personal, rather than collective wealth and power. That mind-set must change because Nigerians will only embrace our diversity when they realise that we need every part of the country because of what each part offers, and that we are stronger when the sum of our collective contributions is greater than the contributions of the individual parts. To reach that point, we must aim towards a balanced development that creates wealth from all parts to enrich the collective faith, through self-sufficiency of each section and not the excessive strengthening of the center, which leads to an excessive struggle for central power which elites see as a grand prize.

    Some of the problems in the polity often begin within the parties.Why is it difficult for INEC to promote and deepen internal democracy in our political parties?

    From my experience, it appears that politicians prefer chaos to order. Perhaps, they feel that order will not be in their favour. Otherwise, how can we explain the sudden removal of Section 87(9) that gave the INEC some quasi -dministrative powers to ensure internal democracy and, instead, they introduced a proviso to Section 31 of the Electoral Act, to the effect that, whatever list submitted to INEC as candidates cannot be rejected for any reason “whatsoever’’ whether there was a primary election or not. What then, do you want the INEC to do, given the existence of such a law? The only beneficiary of chaos is chaos, because one chaos will beget another. But, if all accept order, then, in the end, the system will benefit and a stable system is beneficial to all because everyone will be subject to the same rules of engagement. The impunity with which political parties retreat from the requisites of internal democracy is bad for the party membership, because the only thing that sustains growth in party followership is when party members know that they have a reasonable chance of predicting how the rules work in their parties and that these rules will sustain. They should be able to tell how such rules can be modified when it does not serve the required purpose for which it was made and needs to be changed, because when a rule is inadequate it will require amendment, but the process of doing so must not only be fair but seen to be fair by all stakeholders, so there should always be give and take, trade-offs for the collective good but it should be balanced and not opaque.

    How can corruption be tackled efdfectively in the country?

    Any society that accepts corruption as an article of faith will never attain its full potentials. As I have just related in regard to electoral offences, a significant stumbling block to the anti-corruption battle of all kinds in Nigeria is the sense of impunity built by years of a lack of effective judicial consequences. No doubt, there have been many convictions for crimes in Nigeria. But, regarding fraud, especially the type of fraud which threatens our economic growth and development in many dimensions. The judiciary should lead the way on that count. That is why we have separation of powers with the judicial arm and that is why democracy is always qualified with the mantra “and the rule of law” , for as St Augustine insisted, a country is nothing but a gang of rogues without the rule of law. The rule of law should start from amongst the elite. First, there should be some unacceptable conduct among the ruling elite for which sever sanctions, including excommunication from leadership roles should be agreed among them as a convention. Then, in the larger society, this conviction will be used to promote and enforce the extant laws. Where the fight against pernicious corruption is not a shared elite value, a society will come to ruinous end. When the elite share such a conviction, it is regarded as enlightened self-interest.

    What type of serious consequence ?

    The way we are going now, with our value pyramid upside down; a society where money is everything, no sense of shame and nobody is afraid of anything, except death, we may have to go for death penalty. Going to prison do not seem to scare this tribe of treasury looters because there is sufficient money to live well in prison and after serving. Those who do the wrong things that endanger our collective wellbeing are the very ones that would tell to you to go to court and boast of their influence and how they will stall the trial through frivolous legal applications upon applications up to the Supreme Court . Even in our churches now, pastors would announce during thanksgiving that members should take their personal effects when dancing to the altar because of the fear of stealing even in the house of God. This is how terrible our society has declined. In addressing this problem, we should adopt these three approaches in addition to others. Firstly and curatively, we should ensure that proven cases of corruption are met with maximum judicial consequences. Secondly, preventativel measures by ensuring that regulative and normative control measures in both private and public sectors are in place and effectual and are reviewed from time to time.

  • Rights commission, groups seek alternative to death penalty

    The Nigerian government has been asked to review its stand on the issue of death penalty for capital offences.

    The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and some Civil Society Organisations (CSO) made the call in Abuja on Thursday at an event held to mark this year’s World Day Against Death Penalty.

    Speakers at the event queried the rationality for sustaining the death sentence in the nation’s statute book, in the face of a defective justice administration system and poor investigation by the police.

    They urged the government to sustain the existing moratorium on death penalty if it was yet to device an alternative means of punishing people convicted for capital offences.

    The event was jointly organised by the NHRC, Lawyers Without Borders – Avocats Sans Frontieres (ASF) and Access to Justice.

    The Executive Secretary, NHRC, Prof. Bem Angwe, contended that since the nation’s Constitution guaranteed the right to life, the pronouncement of death penalty on offenders should be placed under review.

    Angwe, who was represented by an officer of his commission, Murphy Okwa, suggested a review of the law on death penalty on a case-to-case basis.

    “That is, in the case of an armed robbery that does not result in death, the state should consider the use of other sentencing in place of death penalty.”

    “This is given the fact that the criminal justice system has flaws, which need to be amended,” he said.

    Head of Office, ASF, Angela Uwandu, faulted the practice of sentencing people to death for offences committed as minors.

    She said her organsation has sued the Nigerian government at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court in relation to the case of a nursing mother, Maimuna Abdulmumini sentenced to death by a High Court in Katsina State for the murder offence she committed while she was 13 years.

    Uwandu, who noted that Maimuna was currently imprisoned with her baby, noted that 69 of such babies, incarcerated with their mothers, are currently in the nation’s prisons.

    She urged the Federal Government to initiate measures to improve the living condition of people on death row in the nation’s prison.

     

  • The case against death penalty

    SIR:Once again, the controversial issue of death penalty (or capital punishment) has been resurrected from the limbo in Nigeria. This is against a backdrop of the recent media report quoting President Goodluck Jonathan as urging the state governors to discharge their constitutional responsibility by signing the death warrants of condemned prisoners pending before them and the subsequent hanging of four death row inmates of the Benin prison, in Edo State.

    Although Nigeria has maintained a kind of moratorium or suspension on criminal execution since her return to civilian rule on May 29, 1999, the policy appears to be reversed, somehow, with the hanging of a number of condemned persons across the country in 2006, 2012 and this year. Obviously, public and political opinions are sharply divided on the ongoing heated debate on whether to retain or abolish the punishment in our penal code.

    For proponents of death penalty, the severe measure has a uniquely deterrent force, which no other formal punishment has or could have. In their argument, the fears of being caught for committing gravest crimes like armed robbery and made to face the commensurate gravest punishment would help reduce the rate of such crimes. They also contend that capital punishment would permanently remove the worst criminals in our midst, thereby providing an enabling environment for a safe and peaceful society.

    For opponents of death penalty in Nigeria, the pristine argument of deterrence of the penalty is otiose and no longer tenable. This is in the light of the futility of such harsh measure in stemming the tide of violent crimes – as criminals do not often think about the punishment that awaits them but about the possibility of being caught and arrested.

    From the standpoint of this writer, capital punishment is morally unjustifiable and unacceptable. For one, human life is so sacrosanct and inviolable and it is only God, the giver of life that has the inalienable right and control over it. For another, death penalty removes the humanity of the executed persons and the attendant chances of rehabilitation and their giving something back to society, in terms of community service. Additionally, the penalty is contrary to the contemporary international human rights standards and values- a development that made the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, through the Resolution 62/149, to call on member states to commute without delay all death sentences to terms of imprisonment.

    It is important to state that the intractable problem of violent crimes in Nigeria, which gave rise to application of capital punishment, has its root cause in our grotesquely unjust system that incubates and breeds criminals. These include awful legacy of bad governance, rampant corruption, deplorable state of the economy, inefficient criminal justice system (including the police, the court and the prisons), relative deprivation, mass poverty, chronic unemployment, widening gap between the rich and the poor, human exploitation, greed, unbridled materialism, ungodliness, immorality, erosion of the spirit of social solidarity and decline of traditional family values. In fact, if we did not push back the frontier of these often ignored factors that fuel violent crimes, our all-out efforts to surmount the upward spiral of such crimes will be in vain.

    As part of the reform of the administration of justice in Nigeria, the Federal Government should respond swiftly and vigorously to the contentious issue of death penalty. This is considering that the penalty has obviously failed as a deterrent measure against violent criminals. Removing capital punishment from our criminal laws is also made paramount by the fact that Nigeria is a signatory to internationally recognised human rights protocols, which guarantee each individual’s right to life, like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (or the Banjul Declaration of 1981).

     

    • Okechukwu Emeh, Jr

    Abuja.

     

     

  • Lagos canvasses review of law on death penalty

    The Lagos State Government yesterday suggested a review of the nation’s law on the death penalty and execution of condemned prisoners.

    Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye, who suggested this, said it was time the country made up its mind whether or not it wanted to retain the death penalty in its statute books.

    Ipaye spoke to reporters during the monthly media briefing on Law and Order, held at Alausa, Ikeja.

    He said the death penalty has been a subject of debate without a decision taken on the matter.

    The Lagos Justice Commissioner urged that an investigation committee be set up on death sentence with a view to determining whether or not the death penalty has served as a deterrent to criminals.

    He said the committee should consider whether there had been an increase or a decrease in armed robberies during the period of moratorium by the governors, who suspended the execution of convicts on death rows.

    Ipaye said the outcome of the investigation would help Nigerians take a stand on the issue, which has put the country in limbo for some time.

    The commissioner, who admitted that penalty is part of the country’s law, said the governors have a right to be hesitant in signing execution warrants after convicted prisoners must have exercised their right of appeal to the Supreme Court.

    He said the governors also have a right to exercise their discretion in the granting of amnesty to the convicts under the prerogative of mercy.

    Ipaye denied media reports that under-age persons were kept in prisons across the state on the order of a magistrate’s court for 390 days.

    The commissioner, who insisted that the report was not true, said investigation into the matter showed that 115 persons were arraigned at the Special Offences Task Force Magistrate’s Court and that they were above 18 years, contrary to what was reported.

  • Death penalty: I stand by the constitution, says Oshiomhole

    Death penalty: I stand by the constitution, says Oshiomhole

    Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole has said he will abide by the dictates of the Nigerian Constitution which he swore to and not the laws of any European country or the whims of some activists.

    The governor said the international community cannot dictate to Nigeria on which values it should adhere to.

    He said there is so much hypocrisy by the international community on the issue of human rights.

    Speaking at a one-day seminar on the Role of the Public Complaints Commission in a Democratic Government in Nigeria, Oshiomhole said Nigeria as a sovereign nation has a right to define its own national values.

    He said: “Nigeria is a sovereign nation and we have a right to define what we regard as our own national values. No national interest is defined by others.

    “As we speak, nations and humans are involved in the battle of ideas on the basis of different value systems and it will be an abuse of my own value system if someone chooses to assume that his values are superior to mine.

    “I am part of the international community and my views should carry as much weight as the views of any other person in the international community, we cannot assume that the views from London are shared by Abuja.

    “As a Catholic, I am more fanatical about the sanctity of life. The foundation for human rights is the rule of law, not rule of resolution, not rule of communiqué; not rule of recommendations.

    “When I was sworn in I swore to the oath that I will obey the constitution. There is no suggestion that I shall obey the United Nations (UN) resolution or the European Union that has not been domesticated by the Nigerian government. I do understand that there is no such thing as universal values.”

    The governor noted that more than half of the states in the United States still subscribe to the death penalty “and we have not heard the EU say anything about them”.

    Oshiomhole argued that Nigerian values are not less elegant, less human and therefore not less acceptable.

    “In trying to understand how best to protect the sanctity of human life, if you carry out an act and you confess to it, you shall go. You have no right to tell me that your values are superior to mine,” he said.

    Oshiomhole added: “Now they are canvassing same sex marriage. If they think it is right to marry a man in the West, we think it is a crime to marry a man in Africa. African values are superior to European values and we have to push for them to interrogate their own values.”

    He advised the international community to recognise that Nigeria is not part of the European community.

     

  • Mark canvasses death penalty for oil theft

    Senate President David Mark yesterday canvassed death penalty for those found guilty of stealing the nation’s oil.

    It was during the inauguration of the Joint Committee on Petrolum Industry Bill (PIB) in Abuja.

    Mark said the menace deserves capital punishment to reduce the unwholesome practice to it’s barest minimum.

    He said: “At the end of the day, the Bill must ensure that the current rate of oil theft in the country is minimised to the barest minimum.

    “It seems we are having a bad name internationally because of the rate of oil theft in the country.

    “Oil theft deserves capital punishment; the law must have a huge punishment for those that steal our oil to serve as a deterrent to other people who plan to steal our oil.

    “If it is the public wish, I will endorse a death penalty for oil thieves if it will stop oil theft and bunkering.

    “It is an unusual situation, so it deserves an unusual remedy and drastic punishment.

    “The PIB is a bill to unite the country and not divide it, it will open up the industry so that we can attract new investors.”

    He said that the Senate is taking the PIB “seriously”.

    He added: “We are taking this Bill seriously, the world is changing so fast and so is the petroleum industry. So, this is not a new bill but a review of the bill to meet with international best practices.

    “Nigerians are patriotic enough to know that what we are doing is in the best interest of all Nigerians, we have to update the Bill so that we can encourage investors.

    “The Bill is a win-win situation for all the parties involved. We are aware of the competition involved in the oil industry in the world.”

    Mark called for greater transparency in the operations of the oil industry so as to guarantee investors’ confidence.

    At the end of the day, this Bill must show transparency in the oil industry so that investors will come and get a return on their investment.

    He also said the bill must ensure that exploration activities are extended to other parts of the country.

    “We also want to explore oil in some other parts of the country and not only in the Niger Delta as we are doing now, there is no reason why we cannot find oil in the northern part of the country.”

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Upstream and lead chairman of the Joint committee, Senator Emmanuel Paulker, said the entire oil industry is waiting patiently for the passage of the PIB.

    “So, many financial investment decisions are awaiting this Bill and the leadership has done the right thing by fast-tracking the process for the passage of the Bill in setting up and inaugurating this joint committee so quickly,” Paulker said.

  • 21 Egyptian soccer fans sentenced to death

     

    An Egyptian court has sentenced to death 21 defendants over clashes between rival football fans in which 74 people were killed last February.

    The riots began minutes after a league game at Port Said stadium between local side al-Masry and Cairo club al-Ahly.

    The violence – Egypt’s worst football disaster – sparked riots in Cairo during which a further 16 people died, BBC reports.

    The sentences came after a day of clashes as the opposition marked the second anniversary of the revolution.

    Last year’s football riots led to the suspension of the league.

    It began when al-Masry fans invaded the pitch, hurling stones and fireworks at the visitors.

    At the time some fans – who said security forces appeared to do little to prevent the clashes – accused supporters of toppled President Hosni Mubarak of instigating the incident.

    At least 73 people, including policemen, were tried.

    The judge said he would announce the verdict for the remaining 52 defendants on March 9.

     

  • Terrorism: Why we opted for death penalty – Senate

    Terrorism: Why we opted for death penalty – Senate

    The Senate on Friday said it adopted the death penalty as punishment for acts of terrorism due to Nigeria’s peculiar circumstances.

    The National Assembly at its sitting on Thursday approved the death penalty for acts of terrorism in Nigeria following the recommendations contained in a conference committee report of both houses.

    The report was on a harmonised version of a Bill for an Act to amend the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2011 and for Other Related Matters.

    The spokesman of the Senate, Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe, told the News Agency of Nigeria in a telephone chat, that the choice of the death penalty was informed by the existing situation in the country.

    “This is Nigeria and we are going to do laws based on extant things happening in our country. We cannot afford to use what is done in other countries to resolve our peculiarities.

    “So we are adopting this amendment to address the problem that is peculiar to Nigeria,’’ Abaribe said.

    Sen. Victor Lar (PDP-Plateau), who is also a member of the committee, also told NAN on telephone, that the earlier recommendation of life imprisonment was too lenient for such a crime.

    “The life imprisonment sentence as opposed to the death penalty, particularly, for perpetrators of terrorist acts that results in the death of citizens is not decisive enough.’’

    Lar, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes, added that prisoners kept for a long time might be granted amnesty while perpetrators of terrorism acts might go scot-free at the end of the day.

    “Take for instance the case of the Libyan terrorists who bombed Lockerbie, they were eventually released and were given heroic welcome.’’

    NAN reports that the Senate version of the amended bill had prescribed life imprisonment for acts of terrorism while the House of Representatives version prescribed death penalty.

    Members of the conference committee deliberated and weighed the advantages and disadvantages of both penalties and eventually adopted the death penalty.

     

  • Respect moratorium on death penalties, EU tells Nigeria

    Respect moratorium on death penalties, EU tells Nigeria

    The European Union on Wednesday called on Nigeria to respect existing moratorium on executions already put in place since 2006.

    In a statement issued in Abuja by the Political Officer, Human Rights and Situations of Fragility Delegation of the EU to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Chadi Sidhom, the organization also urged Edo State to stay action on imminent execution of prisoners.

    The EU delegation, which issued the statement in agreement with the EU Heads of Mission in Nigeria, appealed to Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole to allow all legal appeals to be carried out on the two pending cases of execution in the state.

    The statement reads: “The EU delegation urges the Nigerian authorities to respect the existing de facto moratorium on executions, in place since 2006.

    “The EU delegation to the Federal Republic of Nigeria is deeply concerned about the information it has received concerning the reported imminent execution of two persons in Edo State.

    “The delegation calls on the Nigerian authorities and, in this case, the Governor of Edo State, to allow all legal appeals to be heard and to halt the execution of these two inmates.

    “It considers that such execution, if carried out, would represent a serious setback in Nigeria’s reputation and records in the field of human rights.

    “The delegation reiterates its calls on the Nigerian authorities to accede to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), aiming at the complete abolition of the death penalty.”