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NIGERIA
‘WAITING FOR THE HANGMAN’
37
In May 2007, the Presidential Commission on Reform of the Administration of
Justice (PCRAJ) reiterated the Study Group’s recommendation to adopt a moratorium.
The PCRAJ concluded that “Limited legal protection, unequal access to justice
perpetuate a situation in which the poor and other vulnerable groups are highly
susceptible to arrest and subsequent imprisonment. It is the view of the Commission
that this phenomenon, the criminalisation of poverty, should have no place in the
administration of justice in Nigeria.” Both the Study Group and the Presidential
Commission highlighted the fact that inmates on death row are “almost exclusively
poor and without legal representation.”
The government has often admitted that reforms are needed in the criminal justice system;
in 2004 a National Working Group on the Reform of the Criminal Justice Administration
was established. 133 Despite this and the fact that President Obasanjo expressed his personal
opposition to the death penalty on several occasions, the Federal Government took no
action to adopt a moratorium. The death penalty remained on the statute books and courts
continued to sentence people to death. Indeed, even more executions were carried out.
Since May 1999, at least 410 people have been sentenced to death and at least 22
executions carried out. 134
By the time President Yar’Adua took power on 29 May 2007, none of the recommendations
of the Study Group and the Presidential Commission had been implemented. President
Yar’Adua’s government did not make clear its stand on the death penalty until November
2007, when Nigeria voted against the UN General Assembly resolution 62/149 calling for a
global moratorium on executions. 135 Senior officials at the Federal Ministry of Justice
subsequently told Amnesty International “Death penalty is lawful. It is not a federal issue
alone; it is a state issue as well. Once a governor signs an execution warrant, it is up to the
prison service to carry it out.” 136
The death penalty has also been debated in the National Assembly: a bill to abolish
the mandatory death penalty under the Robbery and Firearms Act 137 and replace it
with life imprisonment was tabled before the House of Representatives in July 2008.
Honourable Friday Itulah, one of the bill’s sponsors argued: “The incidence of crime is
on the increase in Nigeria. The reason is that this act that came into force in 1984 has
not succeeded in deterring at all. Rather than deterring criminals it has hardened them
and made them ruthless.” 138
A heated debate followed. One member speaking against the bill said: “It will be unfortunate
for somebody to come and kill you and you should not kill that man.” Another member
contradicted: “We should be addressing the cause of crime and not the symptoms of
crime… we should be looking at the economic situation of the country.”
High levels of crime in Nigeria featured heavily in the debate. One member who spoke
in favour of the bill said: “I understand the passion that this debate has generated…
that is because armed robbery has become a day to day affair.” One member even
suggested increasing the number of crimes resulting in capital punishment: “We have
Index: AFR 44/020/2008 Amnesty International October 2008