State governors have been urged to sign the warrants of inmates on death row in Correctional Centres across the country.
Speaking in Osogbo at a public hearing on a bill proposed by the Osun State House of Assembly to punish convicted criminals, a lawyer, Lekan Bello, accused state governors of intentionally avoiding the signing of warrants of inmates already sentenced to death.
Bello contended that the governors’ alleged refusal to sign death warrants had not only been responsible for the congestion in Nigerian prisons, but has also been emboldening convicted criminals to commit more crimes within and outside prison.
He argued that once governors summoned courage to approve executions of affected inmates, it would serve as deterrent to others and prisons would be decongested.
The lawyer disclosed that close to 2,000 inmates were currently on death row across the nation, adding that without the approval of state governors, none of these convicted inmates would be executed.
He questioned the rationale behind sentencing a convict to death and the refusal to approve his execution, saying the country would not be free of criminality and high profile crimes if offenders knew they would not be executed after being convicted.
Bello, therefore, asked attorneys general and commissioners of Justice across Nigeria to prevail on their governors to see reasons to sign death warrants of condemned persons.
He said, “It is disturbing that state Governors in Nigeria have been finding it difficult to sign death warrants of inmates sentenced to death. If they continue to ignore this constitutional responsibility, we may continue to witness congestion in prisons across the country.
“Nigeria may still be witnessing high rate of criminality once criminals know they can go scotfree, even after being convicted of murder. We now see cases of inmates on death row committing offences even in prison.
“I want to call on state governors to desist from dreading this role. Attorneys general across the country should prevail on governors to always approve execution of inmates sentence to death, whenever the need arises. They should know that their refusal has been encouraging criminals in our society.”