Latest News From Edo State

Governors – sign the death warrants of
those on death row. Eight days after
Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State
approved execution of four death row
convicts; his intention preceded the

President’s message.
Oshiomhole’s action sparked off outrage
from the human rights community,
particularly Amnesty International and
Human Rights Watch, which had
campaigned against the hangings. They
view execution of condemned felons as
“barbaric” and a violation of human
dignity.

The concerns could be consigned to
meddlesomeness, knowing that their non-
barbaric countries, still execute some
classes of criminals. There are areas of
human rights that should bother these
organisations. Did the suspects have access
to fair trials? What is the penalty for their
offences? We think their interventions at
such levels could make a difference to the
suspects’ cases.

Noise about death sentences, abolished in
some countries, tends to ignore the rights
of the victims and their families, who in
these cases lost lives. ‘We are firmly on the
side of the innocent members of the law-
abiding public whose right to life and the
achievement of the loftiest potentials
under the law were savagely terminated
by deviants.
The law mandates the state to ensure
justice is done to all, including the suspects.
The quest for justice saw them through the
appeal processes, and the verdict was still
death.

The brazen brutality and barbarism
involved in some of the cases are too
nauseating to be repeated here. No decent
society would tolerate them. When a
citizen, for whatever reason, takes the law
into his hands, terminating the life of
another, the state has a duty to bring the
offender to appropriate justice.

This will not only reassure the victims’
families that the law “will fight” for them
(and thus prevent the urge for vengeance)
it will also help to deter those who might
contemplate brutal behaviours.
Our concerns centre more on the law
enforcement mechanisms being robust
enough to ensure that all cases, especially
those warranting capital punishment, are
diligently prosecuted, with the rights of the
accused protected and their appeals
exhausted. The finality of death sentences
demands irrefutable evidences in reaching
the decisions.

Governors should review each death row
case on its merit. Where necessary they
should apply the prerogative of mercy and
possibly commute sentences to other
forms of penalty, where doubts or
extenuating circumstances arise.
Otherwise, once the brutality of offence is
established by law, there should be no
hesitation in allowing the law to take its
due course.

Neither law nor nature permits brutality on
the death row; leaving convicts,
unattended, for years is also barbaric and
inhuman

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