By BARTHOLOMEW MADUKWE

Human Rights Law Service, HURILAWS, has described death penalty as anachronistic, saying that it is not an effective deterrent to crimes.

Condemning in strongest terms the recent advice by the presidency that governors should begin to sign execution warrants, HURILAWS urged the federal and state governments to retrace their steps and observe international commitments and obligations by leaving in place the moratorium on executions in Nigeria.

President Goodluck Jonathan, in a remark at the Fathers’ Day celebration special service in Aso Villa Chapel, Sunday June 16, had asked state governors to stop abdicating their constitutional responsibility of signing death warrant of criminals condemned to death by courts of competent jurisdiction.

In a statement signed by HURILAWS programme officer, Mr Collins Okeke, the group pointed out that it is a drawback on the country’s   human   rights for condemned criminals to be executed despite their pending cases in courts, challenging the signing of their execution.

”This for us is not only a drawback on Nigeria’s human rights, it is a repudiation of Nigeria’s international commitment that it has in place of an unofficial moratorium,” it stated.

According to HURILAWS, the official government statement made during the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva on 9th February, 2009 while informing the United Nation (UN) that death sentence was a valid part of Nigerian Law, it was admitted that Nigeria is not oblivious of the global debate on the propriety or otherwise of death sentence.

”In the spirit of the global trend, Nigeria has constituted a National Committee on the review of death sentence. With regard to the moratorium on death penalty, though we voted against it in the UN General Assembly resolution, Nigeria continues to exercise a self imposed moratorium,” it added.

The group noted that having given a moratorium, the country should not be seen to be violating it because it will attract sanctions from the UN.

It will be recalled that Monday last week, four persons whose names have been on death row for 16 years were executed in Edo state. The four persons were Chima Ejiofor, Daniel Nsofor, Osarenmwinda Aiguokhan and Richard Igagu. Thankgod Ebhos, who was to be the fifth man was said to have narrowly escaped execution when the executioner had technical problems with the gallows.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International has said that more than 1,000 people are reportedly on death row in Nigeria, a country of about 160 million. Amnesty International’s deputy Africa director, Lucy Freeman, stressed that the hangings would mark “a truly dark day for human rights in Africa’s most populous nation.”

Chino Obiagwu of the national lawyers’ rights group LEPAD, on his part, said the death row prisoners were hanged despite pending suits at the appeal court and two were his clients convicted of murder.

”Under Nigerian laws, an appeal and application for stay of execution should restrain further action. By executing the prisoners, Nigeria’s government has demonstrated a gross disregard to the rule of law and respect for the judicial process,” Obiagwu said.

He explained that around 3p.m. a court dismissed his organization’s appeal challenging the state government’s signing of execution warrants and a motion to stop executions.

Obiagwu added: “They (authorities) had already started preparing for the executions, they turned us away from the prison and by 6:15 p.m. we heard from clients in the prison that they had been executed.

”The death row prisoners in the suit contend that to execute them after over 16 years of trauma, suspense and imminent death would amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.”

He said traumatized inmates called him to describe “terrible sounds” like a drum rolling, shackles scratching and the screams of those condemned begging for mercy.