…executions may worsen risks to victims

By Esther Onyegbula

Human rights scholar-practitioner, Prof. Uchenna Emelonye, has faulted moves in the Senate to introduce death penalty for kidnapping and terrorism, warning that the measure will be ineffective and could further endanger victims, as Nigeria’s core security and justice system weaknesses remain unaddressed.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Emelonye stressed that his position was not in defence of kidnappers or any form of criminality, but a call for evidence-based and institution-focused solutions, rather than punitive responses that have failed to deliver public safety.

Addressing criticisms that his stance was detached from Nigeria’s harsh realities, the professor recounted a personal ordeal.

“I know the pain of kidnapping first-hand. My elder brother was kidnapped after his police orderly was shot and disarmed. I personally went through the trauma of negotiating with the kidnappers and torturously delivered the ransom to their den. So, I have felt the fear, the anguish, and the helplessness that many Nigerian families experience,” he said.

He argued that the introduction of capital punishment would not fix Nigeria’s investigative, prosecutorial and judicial gaps, adding that comparisons with countries such as China and the United States were misplaced.

“The belief that China or the United States reduced crime through executions is inaccurate. The low crime rates in these countries stem from strong state capacity, sophisticated surveillance, and highly effective law enforcement, not executions,” he stated.

Emelonye warned that global criminological evidence shows that where kidnapping attracts the death penalty, criminals are more likely to kill victims to eliminate witnesses. According to him, criminals fear the certainty of arrest more than the severity of punishment, stressing that prevention, not post-crime punishment, is the true deterrent.

“Understandably, death penalty offers emotional satisfaction to most Nigerians, but emotional satisfaction is not public safety. The real driver of deterrence is the preventive certainty of arrest, not the severity of punishment,” he added.

He further pointed to Nigeria’s inconsistent use of the death penalty to argue its ineffectiveness. He recalled that the last executions in the country were carried out in Edo State in 2016 under former governor, Adams Oshiomhole, following earlier executions in 2013.

According to him, the seven inmates executed between 2013 and 2016 appeared to have been selected arbitrarily, rather than based on seniority or length of time on death row, raising concerns about fairness and due process.

He noted that as of April 2024, about 3,504 inmates were on death row across Nigeria, while the last mass executions before 2013 took place in 2006 in Kaduna, Plateau and Enugu states.

“This disconnect between sentencing and enforcement shows that the death penalty does not deter crime. It only creates a backlog of condemned inmates, not safer streets,” he said.

Emelonye also decried systemic failures in Nigeria’s telecoms and law enforcement architecture, noting that despite mandatory SIM card registration, kidnappers still make ransom calls with registered lines that are not traced.

He described this as a critical coordination failure between the Nigeria Communications Commission, telecom operators and the Police.

“It is unacceptable that in a country where every SIM card ought to be registered with biometrics, kidnappers still operate phones that cannot be traced. Without real-time tracing and data sharing, no punishment, including the death penalty, will deter kidnappers who believe they cannot be caught,” he stated.

On the proliferation of arms, Emelonye said an estimated six to seven million illicit firearms are in circulation in Nigeria, emboldening criminal gangs and enabling kidnappers to overpower communities, attack highways and maintain forest enclaves.

He added that porous borders, with over 1,400 unofficial entry points, have turned Nigeria into a corridor for illicit arms, foreign fighters and transnational criminal networks.

According to him, kidnapping gangs exploit weak border surveillance to import weapons, evade operations and relocate across borders, making executions an irrelevant deterrent in a cross-border criminal ecosystem.

Rather than expanding capital punishment, Emelonye urged the Federal Government to consider a lawful, narrowly tailored and temporary declaration of a state of emergency in kidnapping hotspots, in line with Section 305(3)(c–f) of the 1999 Constitution, subject to approval by the National Assembly.

He said such a measure would allow exceptional but lawful deployment of security forces, enhanced surveillance, restricted movement in affected areas, and aggressive disruption of arms and kidnapping networks.

“Some human rights are not absolute and can be limited for national security and public order, provided such measures are lawful, necessary, proportionate and non-discriminatory,” he said.

He concluded that no country has defeated complex insecurity through executions but by strengthening institutions, technology, intelligence and policing.

“No country has defeated complex insecurity by expanding executions. Nations that succeeded did so by strengthening state institutions, technology, intelligence, and policing, not by resorting to irreversible punishment,” he added.