37 condemned prisoners awaiting execution in Bauchi state

Thirty-Seven condemned prisoners are awaiting execution after being sentenced for capital crimes in Bauchi State.

Penpushing reports that the Public Relations Officer of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), Bauchi State Command, Ahmed Tata, made this known, while reacting to survey on why the governors are reluctant to sign the death warrant.

The Public Relations Officer explained that the condemned prisoners comprised 36 males and one female, recalling that none of the democratically elected governors in the state had signed death warrants since 1999.

Penpushing further reports that Tata however, emphasized that governors during the military might have signed death warrants for those on death row, just as a legal luminary, Jubrin Jubrin,  in reaction urged the state governors in the country to expedite signing the death warrant of condemned prisoners to ensure justice.

The legal luminary stated that the actions of the governors might be connected to the dismal number of condemned prisoners in the country, stressing that they(Governors) have duty to sign death warrants

‘The governors have a duty to make sure that once the court has sentenced somebody to death and he exhausted the chances of appeal, the sentence should be executed. Although, signing of death warrant also depends on a particular state, depending on its geographical location and culture, it might be the factors on how these responsibilities are to be handled’, he said.

“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’, Jubrin added.

“We need to know, are they very many? If there are many, probably, it would have raised a concern as to why are we keeping as much 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.

Penpushing also reports that Chairman of the Network for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Bauchi, Garba Jinjiri, pointed out that irreversibility of execution was one of the reasons behind the governors’ reluctance to sign the death warrant.

‘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.

Penpushing reports that legal luminary emphasized that executions could spark protests or criticism from human rights groups, academia and the public, adding that the governors, might avoid signing the death warrant to prevent alienating voters or interest groups.

Penpushing further reports that in similar vein, a Jigawa-based political analyst, Muhammad Reza highlighted that the Constitution indirectly impeded the implementation of capital punishment in Nigeria.

The analyst said the constitution vested the authority to approve executions in the hands of the governor and the president, stressing that 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, and called for a review of capital punishment in the country.

“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.

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