Angela Uwandu, Head of Office, Avocats Sans Frontieres (Lawyers Without Borders), has said over 1,000 Nigerians are on death row in various prisons across the country, with only four executions of condemned prison inmates carried out in the country in the last one year.
Uwandu made this known, yesterday, at a one-day advocacy workshop in Makurdi, the Benue state capital, saying that the Avocats Sans Frontieres was already handling 113 cases of inmates on death row as well as those awaiting trial for capital offences in eight states of the federation in a bid to check the execution of convicts in the prisons.
Her words: “Despite the death penalty, crime levels have continued to increase all over the country; that is why we urge the government to observe a moratorium on the issue of execution of inmates.
“Moreover, how are we sure that the people being executed are actually the culprits because as it is, we lack the forensic to truly ascertain the culpability of those involved.”
Uwandu also, spoke of the urgent need to abolish death penalty from Nigerian laws “because it does not serve as deterrent to the commission of crime in any part of the country.”
According to her, “Avocats Sans Frontieres is also advocating that due process should be adhered to in the justice system of Nigeria, right from the point of arrest to the trial of suspects in order to ensure that an individual is not wrongfully prosecuted.”
