Barely 24 hours after a Lagos High Court sentenced Drambi Vandi, an officer involved in the killing of Bolanle Raheem, a lawyer, to death by hanging, members of the international community have, again, urged Nigeria to abolish the death penalty.
They argued that capital punishment is outdated, and does not stop crime, and tasked the Federal Government with reviewing the policy. This was at the screening of a movie, ‘Shepherds and Butchers’, hosted by Avocats Sans Frontières France (ASF France), with support from the French Embassy and the Australian High Commission in Nigeria, in commemoration of the 2023 World Day Against the Death Penalty, in Abuja, yesterday.
Speaking to journalists, Charge D’ affairs, Australian High Commission to Nigeria, Lean Johnston, recalled that Australia abolished the death penalty in 1968, describing capital punishment as state violence against its own citizens.
She said: “To be honest, to us, it is inhumane. So, it’s very important for us to work with other governments to put an end to this cruel treatment. Death penalty does diminish human dignity. When you take the life of someone else, whether it’s done as a criminal act, or whether it’s done by the state, it does diminish human dignity.”
Country Director, ASF France Nigeria, Angela Uwandu Uzoma-Iwuchukwu, said though more than 3,000 Nigerians are on the death penalty, the number is not exact.
While advising the Nigerian government to emulate Ghana by abolishing capital punishment, she called for the implementation of alternatives by putting in place an official moratorium on executions, while working towards the abolition of the death penalty.
Also, the Ambassador of France to Nigeria, Emmanuelle Blatmann, called for an official moratorium on executions. She observed that France considers the death penalty as unfair and inhumane, adding that it is also irreparable. According to her, shedding the blood of another human cannot amend a crime that has been committed.
In a related development, Deji Ajare, Executive Director of Sterling Law Centre, described the death penalty as a violation of the inherent right to life, constituting cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment.
“It is our steadfast position that no judicial system should have the power to take a life, even in response to heinous crimes,” he said in a statement.
The Guardian
