Why govs no longer sign death warrants – Ogun, Rivers

Ogun, Niger and Rivers State governments have explained the reasons why governors have always shunned signing death warrants for the execution of condemned criminals.

This followed the continuous debate on whether the state governors would begin sign the death sentence like former Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomole, did in 1999.

The states have shown the lack of readiness to implement law guiding death sentence for persons who have been convicted by courts despite its constitutionality.

In 2023, the Nigerian Correctional Service disclosed that 3,413 inmates were currently on death row across the country’s custodial centres.

The service also put the total number of inmates in these facilities at 77,849, adding that 53,836 individuals were awaiting trial, with 52,512 males and 1,324 females.

It was noted that the high number of awaiting trial persons was challenging for the Service.

It was disclosed that the service was spending N800 per day to feed each of the 900 dogs in the service while oly N750 was being allocated to feed each prisoner, the majority of whom were awaiting trials, at N250 per meal.

According to the 2024 budget, NCoS will spend N24,447,582,237 on the supply of catering materials and foodstuffs.

Meanwhile, in 2012, the then Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, signed the death warrant bill into law. Four persons were convicted to death as of this time.

Similarly, the former governor of Kano State, Ganduje, in 2019, signed a bill approving the death penalty for anyone found guilty of kidnapping across the state.

The law provides for the death sentence for kidnappers who abduct and kill their victim, while kidnappers who abduct but did not kill their victim, if apprehended and found culpable, would be jailed for life.

Speaking on the matter, the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of Ogun State, Olusina Ogungbade, told Saturday According that he was not aware of any pending death warrant waiting to be signed by the governor of the state.

The commissioner explained that the inexhaustible debate on the appropriateness of death sentence, which he said, many countries of the world had abolished, contributed to the state governors’ general reluctance towards signing a death warrant for the killing of condemned criminals.

Ogungbade noted, “I am not aware of any warrant awaiting the signature of His Excellency, Governor Dapo Abiodun. Again it takes a long time for a condemned person to exhaust the appeal process and as you know, a death sentence cannot be carried out when an appeal against it is pending.”

“In addition, I don’t think it would help to approach this issue on a state-by-state basis. It is better to look at it from the national perspective. For a long time, there has been unwillingness by governors to sign death warrants.

“This is partly due to the long-lasting debate about the appropriateness of the death penalty. You will recall that at a time, Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, took the matter to the Supreme Court.

Similarly, the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, explained why he could not sign death warrants for condemned persons.

The State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Joseph Johnson, who spoke in a telephone interview with Saturday According, said Governor Fubara was a human being who had human feelings, adding that it was not his priority to do so.

Johnson stated, “The governor is a human being and cannot sign a document that will take the life of another. For my governor, I think that anybody who is humanitarian may not be quick to sign the death warrant of another person. So, we are human beings; it is not anybody’s priority to sign a death sentence of another person.”

Also, it was gathered that neither the current Niger State Governor Mohammed Bago nor any chief executive of the state has signed any death warrant since the country returned to democratic rule in 2023.

A government official, who declined speaking on record, disclosed that no Niger State governor since the inception of democratic rule in 1999 had signed the death penalty.

Meanwhile, the former Chairman of the Ilorin branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, Joseph Bamigboye, said that governors’ refusal to sign death warrants of convicted criminals was unconstitutional and was an attempt to blackmail the judges.

Speaking with Saturday According, Bamigboye noted that by refusing to sign death warrants for those convicted of capital offences, the governors had run against the constitution which they swore to protect.

Bamigboye said, “The governors’ refusal to sign the death warrant is blackmailing the judiciary and it is a way of disobeying the constitution which they have sworn to protect.”

Another Lawyer, the Secretary of the Ilorin Branch of NBA, Taofiq Olateju, told Saturday According that signing of death warrants by the governors was part of the oath they took during their swearing-in as the governors of their respective States.

He said by constitutional provision, the governors had committed an impeachable offence.