Capital
Punishment: Don’t Be Gagged, Anglican Primate Tells FG
03 Jul 2013
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Most Rev. Nicholas
Okoh,
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By Yemi Akinsuyi
The Primate, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, Tuesday, decried the condemnations that trailed the execution of four condemned prisoners in Benin City by the Edo State Government, urging the federal government not to allow itself to be gagged by anybody.
Reacting to questions at a press conference in Abuja, the Primate noted that Amnesty International had no justification to criticise the government’s action, as they were neither directly nor indirectly affected by the action of the inmates.
He warned that the federal government should not allow anybody or organisation to teach it what morality is all about, insisting that, “the law on capital punishment for those who rightly deserve it should be enforced.”
Painting a scenario where a victim of armed robbery was brutalised, raped and finally killed by the gang, the primate rhetorically asked “now where is the human right of this woman? Meanwhile, the armed robbers involved in that had been executed, and the people are crying for the human rights of the armed robbers.
“What I am saying is that the federal government should not allow people to teach them moral in our society. If somebody can afford to kill 79 people and they just sentenced him to 14 years imprisonment, if they think that is acceptable to them, it is okay, but here I think it is not okay.
“So, for me, anybody who has degenerated to that level of depravity deserves capital punishment and it should be enforced.”
“It
is not true to say that punishment does not deter crime, it does. One of the
differences between society here and society outside is that, we have so many
laws which are not enforced, if you see a Nigerian outside they obey the law,
but as soon as they come back here, they feel above the law, if they do any
thing contrary to the law and the people approach them, they will say ‘do you
know who I am?’
“So,
punishment must be effected and that is the essence of government, the bible
supported it, and the government cannot abdicate from punishing crime in the
name of amnesty international or whatever.”
On the
issue of security, Okoh maintained that insecurity persistent in the country
because politicians were playing politics with it.
“We
must not play politics with our security, it is never done any where in the
world, we need to ensure that our security is good and well organised, then, we
will have time for other things. I want to say that to some extend, our
politicians play politics with the security issue in Nigeria, and that is why
it has lingered for so long.”
1138
condemned prisoners on death row –Investigation
July 3, 2013
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No fewer
than 1,138 condemned prisoners are presently on the death row in the country,
National Mirror investigations have showed.
National
Mirror gathered that of this figure,
1,119 convicts are males while 19 are females as at April 30, this year.
Statistics
obtained from the Nigerian Prisons Service, NPS, also revealed that the 145
prisons in the country had a total capacity to accommodate 47, 284 prisoners,
but the inmate population as at that date is 53,816.
A
breakdown of this figure showed that the males have a total inmate population
of 52,707 while the females are 1,109.
The
statistics also indicated that the total number of Awaiting Trial Persons,
ATPs, is 37,429 out of which 36,540 inmates are males and 889 females.
The
figure of convicted persons was put at 16,387, comprising 16,167 males and 220
female convicts.
A further
breakdown of the number of the convicts revealed that apart from those on the
death row, 465 males and eight females are serving life sentences.
About
6,967 males are on long term sentence with only 114 females serving same,
bringing the total figure to 7,081. It was also learnt that 7,616 convicts are
serving short term sentences. Of this figure, 7,616 are males while 79 are
females.
The
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke,
SAN, had on June 27 said the governors were statutory bound to sign death
warrants of condemned criminals sentenced to death by courts of competent
jurisdiction.
The
minister’s insistence came on the heels of mounting criticisms of President
Goodluck Jonathan’s directive mandating governors to sign death warrants
pending on their desks.
In the
forefront of the criticisms were some Senior Advocates of Nigeria, including
Prof. Itse Sagay, who said that the President lacked the power to compel the
governors to sign execution warrants of condemned criminals. Just last week,
four death row inmates were hanged in Benin, Edo State, after their execution
warrants were signed by Governor Adams Oshiomhole.
The
inmates included Osaremwinda Aigbuohian and Daniel Nsofor, whose lawyers had been
struggling to obtain a stay of execution on the death sentence; and two other
convicts whose identities were yet to be ascertained.
Idahagbon
said that the defence team of the death row inmates, led by a civil society
group, LEDAP, had tried up till the last minute to stop the hanging but did not
succeed.
Three of
the inmates were convicted outside Edo State. Idahagbon said that the executed
inmates had been issued the death penalty several years ago.
Under the
Nigerian Criminal Code, Chapter 77, Laws of Federation of Nigeria 1990, the
offences which attract death penalty include murder, treason and armed robbery.
Specifically,
Section 37(1) and 37 (2) states that “any person who levies war against the
State in order to intimidate or overawe the President or governor of a state,
or who conspires with any is guilty of treason, and is liable to the punishment
of death.”
Section
38 of the Criminal Code provides that “any person who instigates any foreigner
to invade Nigeria with an armed force is guilty of treason and is liable to the
punishment of death.
By
section 49 (1) “any person who commits treachery or treacherous act by giving
assistance to the naval, air force, or military operations of the enemy is
liable upon conviction to death.
Similarly,
section 315 and 319 of the code states that any person who unlawfully kills
another is guilty of murder and shall be sentenced to death.
The
criminal law also frowns at stealing with violence or armed robbery as section
401 and 402 provides that the offender shall upon conviction be sentenced to
death.
Outside
the shores of the country, some Nigerians, according to sources, have been
extra-judicially executed in Indonesia in recent years.
It was
also widely reported sometimes ago that the authorities in Saudi Arabia were
set to execute a Nigerian, Sulaimon Olufemi, 28, who was convicted and
sentenced to death in connection with the murder of a policeman in Jeddah in
2002.
The
convict was reportedly sentenced to death at a closed trial in May 2005.
Shortly after the death sentence against Olufemi was upheld by the Court of
Cassation and ratified by the Supreme Judicial Council, the Saudi Arabian Human
Rights Commission and the Amnesty International expressed the fear that the
convict could be executed at any time.
Meanwhile,
the Primate, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh,
yesterday decried the criticism trailing the execution of the death sentence in
Benin. He told the Federal Government not to allow itself to be gagged by
anybody.
The Primate,
who spoke at a press conference in Abuja, noted that Amnesty International had
no justification to criticise the government’s action, stressing that they were
not directly or indirectly affected by the action of those inmates.
He warned
that the government should not allow anybody or organisation to teach it what
morality was all about, insisting that “the law of
capital punishment for those who rightly deserve should be enforced.”
Painting
a scenario, where a victim of armed robbery was brutalised, raped and finally
killed by the gang, the primate asked: “Now where is
the human rights of this woman? Meanwhile, the armed robbers involved in that
had been executed, and the people are crying for the human rights of the armed
robbers! “The Federal Government should not allow people to teach it moral in
our society.
If
somebody could afford to kill 79 people and they just sentenced him to 14 years
imprisonment, if they think that is acceptable to them, it is okay, but here I
think is not okay. “So, for me, anybody who has degenerated to that level of
depravity deserves capital punishment and it should be enforced.
“It
is not true to say that punishment does not deter crime, it does. One of the
differences between society here and society outside is that we have so many
laws, which are not enforced.
If
you see Nigerians outside, they obey laws, but as soon as they come back here,
they feel above the law; if they do anything contrary to the law and the people
approach them, they will say ‘do you know who I am?’
“So,
punishment must be effected and that is the essence of government, the Bible
supported it and the government cannot abdicate from punishing crime in the
name of Amnesty International or whatever.” Okoh added that insecurity persists
in the country because politicians were playing politics with it.
“We
must not play politics with our security. It is never done anywhere in the
world. We need to ensure that our security is good and well-organised, then, we
will have time for other things.” Also
yesterday, the Edo State chapter of the Coalition of Registered Political
Parties, CRPP, commended Oshiomhole, for signing the death warrants of four
convicted criminals last week.
The group
said the action would serve as deterrent to rising crime rate. Replying the
critics, the CRPP described as “unjustified” the criticisms against the signing
of the death warrants by the governor.
In a
press statement issued by Edo State CRPP Chairman and National Secretary of
Accord Party, Dr. Samson Isibor, the group expressed satisfaction with the
execution, insisting that the state governor only exercised the powers
conferred on him by the Constitution of the Federal Republic.
Isibor
said: “Those that are opposed to the signing of the
death warrants are enemies of Edo State who want criminals to swallow up the
state.
“These
human rights organisations and ill motivated critics are not sincere because
the nature of the crimes that was committed by the convicts deserved no
sympathy from any responsible government or organisation.
“These
self-styled activists merely play to the gallery in the bid to justify the huge
funds they fraudulently collect from unsuspecting foreign donors under the
guise of fighting injustice, human rights breach and bad governance
Capital punishment: Those who rape and kill must be killed – Primate of Anglican Church
By
Wale Odunsi on July 7, 2013
Primate
of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, has
joined in the bashing of those opposed to capital punishment in the country,
saying they are ill-informed.
The
Influential religious leader was reacting to the objection of foreign countries
and international bodies on the recent execution of four inmates in Benin, Edo
state.
The
United Nations, Amnesty International and European Union, among others had
opposed the action of the state government.
But the
cleric urged the federal and state governments not to allow itself to be
cajoled, advocating the imposition of capital punishment on people guilty of
heinous crimes, particularly on rapists and killers.
At a
press conference in Abuja on Friday, Okoh stated that the Amnesty International
and others had no justification to have criticised the government’s action,
since they were not directly or indirectly affected by the action of the
criminals.
“Government
should not allow anybody or organisation to teach it what morality is. The law
of capital punishment for those who rightly deserve it should be enforced,” he said.
Lamenting
the scenario that led to the judgement of the inmates, Okoh said the gang
robbed a woman, raped, and finally murdered her.
“Where
is the human right of this woman? Meanwhile, the armed robbers involved had
been executed, and people are crying for the human rights of the armed
robbers,” he said.
“What
I am saying is that the Federal Government should not allow people to teach
them morals. For me, anybody who has degenerated to the level of depravity
deserves capital punishment and it should be enforced.
Continuing,
“It is not true to say that punishment does not deter
crime! It does. The difference between our society and society outside is that,
we have laws which are not enforced.
“Nigerians
outside obey laws, but as soon as they come back here, they feel above the law
because if they contravene the law and law enforcing agents approach them, they
will say ‘do you know who I am’
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