Avocats Sans Frontières France (Lawyers without Borders France) has expressed deep concern over Nigeria’s Senate’s approval of the death penalty for drug trafficking crimes.
The group said the decision represented a serious setback for human rights and justice in Nigeria and contradicted the position presented by the government during the just concluded Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
Country Director of ASF France, Angela Uwandu Uzoma-Iwuchukwu, said the Nigerian government, represented by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Lateef Fagbemi, had informed the United Nations (UN) and the world on January 23, at Geneva, that Nigeria had a voluntary moratorium on the death penalty.
He said: “The recent decision by the Senate is without regard to the government’s international policy on death penalty. This approval of the death penalty for drug-related offences contradicts the UN resolution on the death penalty, which was adopted in 2023.
“It should be noted that in 2015, the Federal Government of Nigeria condemned the Indonesian government for the execution of two Nigerians by firing squad due to drug-related offences. It is, therefore, surprising and inconsistent that the same government will turn around to approve the death penalty for drug-related offences in Nigeria, a policy they had once condemned publicly.
“Progressive justice systems must be effective and result-driven. Studies have consistently shown that countries that retain the death penalty in their laws continue to experience high crime rates relating to drug trafficking and other serious offences, thus the death penalty is ineffective as a deterrent. Also, the execution of the death penalty is irreversible and leaves no room for reconsideration even in the face of new evidence.
“This lack of flexibility can lead to a plethora of wrongful executions and miscarriages of justice which can never be reversed,” the group said.
