Legal experts are beginning to express concern as death gallows have continued to pile up with criminal condemned prisoners awaiting execution across many state correctional facilities in the country. This is coming as no fewer than 37 condemned prisoners are awaiting execution after being convicted for capital punishment in Bauchi State. Out of which 36 males and one female.
The Public Relations Officer, PRO of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Bauchi State Command, Mr Ahmed Tata, disclosed this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria this morning in Bauchi.
NAN survey has revealed why most state governors are reluctant to sign death warrants; since the year 1999 to date, the gallows has become overcrowded with condemned prisoners.
Tata disclosed that unlike the military administrators, the democratically elected governors are struggling to become politically correct even to the criminals by refusing to sign death warrants as a constitutional mandate.
A legal luminary, Jubrin S. Jubrin, has called on state governors in the country to expedite action in signing the death warrant of condemned prisoners to ensure justice across their various states.
Although, Jubrin acknowledged that the actions of the governors might be connected to the dismal number of condemned prisoners in the country.
“The governors must make sure that once the court has sentenced somebody to death and he has exhausted the chances of appeal, the sentence should be executed.
“Although the signing of a death warrant also depends on a particular state, depending on its geographical location and culture, it might be the factor on how these responsibilities are to be handled.
“Secondly, the role of the office of the Attorney General as the chief law officer of a state: each Attorney General has a binding duty to offer legal advice on all legal matters, including the exercise of the power to sign death warrants by the governors.
“We need to know, are there very many? If there are many, probably, it would have raised a concern as to why we are keeping as many as the number of people awaiting execution.
“Why not just forgive them if the governor wants to or if he is committing to the execution, it should be done once and for all,” he said.
Another opinion from the Chairman, Network for Civil Society Organisations in Bauchi, Mr Garba Jinjiri, noted that the irreversibility of execution was one of the reasons the governors keep foot-dragging to sign the death warrant.
He explained that “What I mean here is that if a mistake is later discovered, like a wrongful conviction, it cannot be corrected after execution.
“Also, some convicts may still have cases under appeal or awaiting decisions from higher courts.
“I also want to believe that some governors personally believe in the sanctity of life or oppose capital punishment on ethical grounds,” he said.
Explaining further, he said executions could spark protests or criticism from human rights groups, academia, and the public.
From the political side of it he added the governors might be avoiding the signing of the death warrant to prevent alienating voters or interest groups.
Also, a Jigawa-based political analyst, Dr Muhammad Reza, highlighted that the democratic constitution indirectly impeded the implementation of capital punishment in Nigeria.
Explaining further, Reza said the Constitution vested the authority to approve executions in the hands of the governor and the president.
Reza said the governors consistently withheld such approval primarily to avoid antagonising foreign donors, who might judge them based on human rights standards and withdraw their support.
“What they fail to realise is that this reluctance has contributed to a steady rise in criminality across the country since 1999. There is a growing argument that justice should be proportional, just tit for tat,” he said.
Meanwhile, based on a political decision, he called for the review of the law concerning capital punishment in the country.
In a similar manner, Yusuf Abubakar attributed the governors’ actions to the growing campaign against capital punishment by human rights and development activists in spite of its legality in Nigeria.
Abubakar said that signing a death warrant has political sensitivity, as politicians might face public backlash from human rights groups, religious bodies, or political opponents.
He noted that many governors avoided such decisions during their terms in office for political correctness, thus leaving the backlog of condemned prisoners in a legal limbo.
“Nigeria is a deeply religious country, and both Christianity and Islam alike see mercy and forgiveness as revered; thus, the personal beliefs of a governor often play a role in making such decisions.
“A governor who is morally or religiously opposed to capital punishment may decline to sign death warrants, regardless of the law,” he concluded.
While capital punishment according to the Nigerian law remained legally valid, Abubakar revealed that the governors’ reluctance to signthe death warrants only reflected a complex legal caution, moral reservation, political calculation, and procedural dysfunction.
He said these factors created a de facto moratorium on execution, resulting in thousands of condemned inmates languishing in limbo. NAN