Human Rights group carpet Obaseki for executing 3 prisoners with pending cases at A’Court

Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP), a human rights organisation, has descended heavily on Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki for ordering the execution of three death row inmates in an Edo State prison whose cases are pending at the Appeal Court.

Obaseki was said to have ordered the killing of Ogbomoro Omoregie, Apostle Igene and Mark Omosowhota, who were sentenced to death about 20 years ago by military tribunals under the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Decree as amended.

The trio were said to have challenged their conviction and sentence at the court of appeal and have their case pending at the court.

However, they were executed on December 23 on the alleged order of the newly elected governor of Edo State, whose victory is still under contention.

LEDAP, in its reaction on the event in a statement it released on Wednesday through its National Coordinator, Mr. Chino Obiagwu, accused the Edo State government of violating the rights of the executed prisoners by killing them at a time their appeals were pending at the Court of Appeal.

The group alleged that Obaseki signed the death warrants and caused the prisoners to be killed not minding a letter of appeal addressed to him on December 21, 2016 asking him to suspend the execution pending the outcome of the appeal.

Read also: Police foil attempt to bomb 3rd mainland bridge

“LEDAP is appalled that the earliest social duty of Governor Obaseki upon assumption of office was the execution of his citizens on death row. We reiterate that all prisoners, including those sentenced to death, retain all the fundamental rights endowed on all citizens by the 1999 Constitution. This was re-emphasised by the Court of Appeal in the case of Peter Nemi v Attorney General of Lagos State in 1994. The Supreme Court of Nigeria also held in Nasir Bello v Attorney General of Oyo State that a prisoner could not be legally executed while his case was pending in court.

“Insofar as an appeal against the sentences of the death row prisoners in Nigeria are pending in court, to the knowledge of the prison authorities and the government who participated in the high court proceedings before the appeal, there is no legal justification for the Edo executions, more so when it was carried out cruelly on a day to the eve of Christmas.

“It is also appalling that the Edo State Government carried out the execution despite the declaration by Nigerian government at its 2009 and 2014 Universal Periodic Reports to the United Nations Human Rights Council that Nigeria has put in place a moratorium on the use of the death penalty.”

 

 

RipplesNigeria….without borders,without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now