Human Rights Group Kick As Three Death Row Inmates Executed In Edo

SAN FRANCISCO, December 27, (THEWILL) – The Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP), a rights group, has condemned the execution of three death row inmates, the Edo State government, who were sentenced to death by military tribunals under the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Decree 1971 as amended.

The state had announced its intention to execute the three death row prisoners Ogbomoro Omoregie, Apostle Igene and Mark Omosowhota, at Oko Prisons in Benin City, which the group kicked against.

The execution took place last Friday as scheduled around 6:00 a.m.

LEDAP, through its Director, Chino Obiagwu, had petitioned Governor Godwin Obaseki to halt the planned execution.

“These earmarked prisoners were sentenced by military tribunals under the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Decree 1971 as amended, in which there was no right of appeal,” the group wrote in a December 23 petition.

“We have filed an appeal pending at the Court of Lagos seeking order that these prisoners have right of appeal under the 1999 Constitution.”

After the execution, Obiagwu in a statement, said: “Death penalty is not universally prohibited but the second optional protocol to the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on Prohibition of the use of the death penalty ask state parties to amend their laws to abolish death as sentence for crime.

“Not all states have ratified the protocol. To sign a treaty does not bind the state until it is ratified. Nigeria has not signed it.”

Story by Oputah David