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Nigeria Executes Prisoners In Southern State For The First Time Since 2006

Four prisoners have been hanged in southern Nigeria, officials say, in what are believed to be the first executions for seven years.
The justice commissioner for the state of Edo, Henry Idahagbon, told reports that the prisoners had been convicted of armed robbery or murder.

Amnesty International said the executions represented "a truly dark day for human rights" in Nigeria.

More than 1,000 prisoners in Nigeria are believed to be on death row.

Local media say President Goodluck Jonathan recently asked state governors to sign death warrants in an effort to reduce crime.

Mr Idahagbon said the four men were hanged at Benin City Prison after a court had ordered their executions on Monday afternoon.

He said all their appeals had been exhausted and their death warrants had been signed - two by Edo Governor Adams Oshiomhole, and the others by governors of other states.

The executions were carried out by the prison service, a federal agency, and not the Edo state government.

There were conflicting reports about the fate of a fifth prisoner.

Chino Obiagwu of the Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) told the Associated Press the man had been killed.

The execution was initially delayed by technical problems with the gallows, but he was informed later by email that it had gone ahead, Mr Obiagwu said.

But Mr Idahagbon said the man had not been executed because the prisoner's sentence had called for him to be killed by firing squad, which the prison authorities were not prepared to do.

Amnesty International said it had received credible reports of four executions in Benin City.

"If confirmed, these executions mark a sudden, brutal return to the use of the death penalty in Nigeria, a truly dark day for human rights in the country," its deputy director for Africa, Lucy Freeman, said in a statement.

She called on the Nigerian authorities to "return to the moratorium on executions".

Although Monday's executions would be the first known to have taken place since 2006, Nigerian security forces have been accused repeatedly of carrying out extra-judicial killings in the intervening years.
Nigeria 2587236569722624718

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  1. The use of capital punishment (State murder) by any state dehumanises the polulation, as can be seen by the previous comment.
    The failure of the State to provide adaquite security for its citizens is no reason to murder them. This is a failure of the authotities, be they Governors, police commissioners, or others. They cannot actually perform their duty to the required stadard so they resort to this shameful practice. All over the world where human beings gather there is crime, there are also innumerable ways to prevent crime and encourage people not to engage in it. Look where executions have been carried out for years, China, Saudi Araiba, USA, to mention a few, you will see it does not solve the problem, there continues to be crime committed for which people continue to be executed. Meanwhile look at some countries where there is no capital punishment Norway, Sweeden, Ireland and you will see generaly more socically aware socities with lower crime rates than in the other places. What remains.... well as the first poster seems to suggest REVENGE, If the State engages in revenge dont be surprised when the people engege in it..Just look North to see what happens when people loose faith in the Judical system, revenge killings every day of the week.If thats what poeople want thats what they are getting

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well spoken. 2 wrongs do not make a right. Nigeria should set a precedent in Africa to a just cause...perhaps the repeal of the death penalty.

    ReplyDelete

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