On Friday, Justice Ishaq Bello, a former Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, claimed Nigerian governors’ refusal to always sign death warrants on time encouraged the perpetration of crimes in the country.
The former chief judge also said that signing death warrants was part of the criminal justice system and would help decongest prison facilities.
He added that governors’ reluctance was a function of a lack of understanding of their roles.
Interestingly, a handful of death sentences were recently passed on accused persons in the country. These judgments provoked public outrage or approval in ways that may or may not call the death sentence into question.
Here are five of such sentences:
THE DEATH SENTENCE PASSED ON SUNDAY JACKSON IN ADAMAWA STATE
In 2015, Sunday Jackson, a 29-year-old farmer and student from Dong Community in Demsa LGA of Adamawa, was working on his farm in Kodomti Community, Numan LGA, when Buba Ardo Bawuro, a herdsman, led his cattle into Jackson’s farm to feed on his crops.
Jackson challenged Bawuro but the herdsman pulled out a knife and attacked him twice.
Wounded and feeling threatened, Jackson was able to seize the knife from the herder and stab him in return. Bawuro later died from the stab wounds.
The police subsequently arrested and tried the farmer with culpable homicide in Yola High Court. The charge carried a death sentence under Section 211 of the penal code.
In court, Jackson admitted that his attacker died at his hands, but he maintained his innocence of any crime.
The prosecution urged the trial judge, Fatima Ahmed Tafida, to convict Jackson based on his confessional statement. But Jackson’s lawyer countered, praying the court to discharge and acquit his client because he acted in self-defence.
READ ALSO: SUNDAY JACKSON: Petition Launched for Farmer on Death Row for Defending Self Against Herdsman
In February 2021, the judge ruled that because Jackson had confessed that he killed the herdsman, he too must die by hanging.
His self-defence claim was wasted on the judge as she said Jackson could have fled the scene after disarming the herdsman.
The judgment stood the test of several appeals and criticisms from Nigerians, and the Supreme Court affirmed it, bringing an end to Jackson’s chances at a legal lifeline.
To date, Jackson’s fate hangs in the balance.
THE SENTENCING OF YAYA SHARIF IN KANO STATE
In August 2020, a Kano Upper Sharia Court sentenced Yahaya Sharif, a 22-year-old musician, to death for blasphemy.
While delivering its judgment, the Court handed Sharif a death sentence by hanging.
The musician was convicted based on Section 382 (b) of the Kano Penal Code of 2000.
Sharif was accused of committing blasphemy in a song he circulated via WhatsApp in March 2020.
READ ALSO: Mystery in Lokoja: Photojournalist Feared Murdered, Body Missing… Then Suspect Commits Suicide
Following the incident, some protesters first burnt down Sharif’s family home, before making a procession to the Kano Hisbah command’s headquarters to register their displeasure.
Although Sharif’s death sentence was subsequently quashed by an Appeal Court, the musician remained in prison, forcing a group of United Nations (UN) experts to demand his release in May 2024.
RAHMON ADEDOYIN SENTENCED TO DEATH IN OSUN STATE
In March 2023, a High Court sitting in Osogbo, Osun State, sentenced Rahmon Adedoyin, a renowned industrialist, and three other defendants to death by hanging for the role they played in the gruesome murder of Timothy Adegoke, an Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) postgraduate student.
On November 5, 2021, Timothy Adegoke, an Abuja-based chartered accountant, had travelled to Ile-Ife to write his Master of Business Administration exams at the OAU Distance Learning Centre.
When friends and family members no longer heard from Adegoke two days after he had confirmed his arrival in Ile-Ife, he was declared missing.
Later, Adegoke’s body was found in a shallow grave at a location very close to Adedoyin’s Hilton Hotel and Resorts, where the OAU postgraduate student had been lodged.
READ ALSO: UPDATED: Appeal Court Upholds Rahmon Adedoyin’s Death Sentence
Subsequent investigations conducted by the police later revealed that the business mogul was one of Adegoke’s four murderers.
An Appeal Court in Ondo State upheld the judgment in January.
Adegoke’s murder was a widely publicised incident that generated a great deal of public scrutiny, and the court proceedings were followed closely by Nigerians.
At a point, many Nigerians feared Adegoke’s family might never get justice as a result of Adegoke’s “industrialist status” in the society.
PETER NWACHUKWU GETS DEATH SENTENCE IN ABUJA
In April, a High Court in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), sentenced Peter Nwachukwu, husband of the late gospel singer Osinachi Nwachukwu, to death by hanging.
Before the judgment, the singer’s death had generated public outrage from many concerned Nigerians.
Nwachukwu was arraigned on a 23-count charge for culpable homicide, criminal intimidation, cruelty to children, criminal intimidation of children, spousal battery and others.
Nwachukwu, who was prosecuted by the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation (OAGF), was arrested on April 11, 2022, three days after the singer’s death.
READ ALSO: Court Sentences Gospel Singer Osinachi’s Husband to Death by Hanging
During his trial, the prosecution invited 17 witnesses, including two of Osinachi’s children, who testified as the fourth and fifth prosecution witnesses. The prosecution also submitted 25 documents as evidence.
Osinachi died on April 8, 2022, after suffering domestic violence at the hands of Nwachukwu.
The 42-year-old gospel singer was initially rumoured to have died from throat cancer.
Her extended family members, however, later insisted that her husband was responsible for her death.
Nwachukwu doubled as the gospel singer’s manager. Osinachi’s death sparked a widely publicised domestic violence debate and outrage among Nigerians.
ANDREW OMINIKORON SENTENCED TO DEATH IN LAGOS
On May 2, Andrew Nice Ominikoron, a Lagos Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) driver, was sentenced to death by hanging for murdering Bamise Ayanwole, a 22-year-old fashion designer.
Prior to the judgment, FIJ had reported how Ayanwole, who was heading to Oshodi from work, boarded a bus marked 240257, driven by Ominikoron on February 26, 2022, in the Ajah area of the state.
That was the last time she was seen alive.
READ ALSO: UPDATED: Lagos BRT Driver to Hang for Bamise Ayanwole’s Murder
Her body was later found dumped on Carter Bridge nine days after she went missing.
Ominikoron was handed the death sentence after a state prosecutor proved five-count charges bordering on felony, sexual assault, rape, conspiracy and murder against him.
The circumstances that surrounded Ayanwole’s death were accompanied by anxiety and anger from members of the public who demanded swift justice.
The post CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: Recent Death Sentences That Provoked Nigerians appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.