Ogun, Niger and Rivers State governments have explained the reasons why governors have always shunned signing death warrants for the execution of condemned criminals.
This followed the continuous debate on whether the state governors would begin sign the death sentence like former Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomole, did in 1999.
Speaking on the matter, the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of Ogun State, Olusina Ogungbade, told The PUNCH that he was not aware of any pending death warrant waiting to be signed by the governor of the state.
The commissioner explained that the inexhaustible debate on the appropriateness of death sentence, which he said, many countries of the world had abolished, contributed to the state governors’ general reluctance towards signing a death warrant for the killing of condemned criminals.
Ogungbade noted, “I am not aware of any warrant awaiting the signature of His Excellency, Governor Dapo Abiodun. Again it takes a long time for a condemned person to exhaust the appeal process and as you know, a death sentence cannot be carried out when an appeal against it is pending.”
“In addition, I don’t think it would help to approach this issue on a state-by-state basis. It is better to look at it from the national perspective. For a long time, there has been unwillingness by governors to sign death warrants.
“This is partly due to the long-lasting debate about the appropriateness of the death penalty. You will recall that at a time, Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, took the matter to the Supreme Court.
Similarly, the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, explained why he could not sign death warrants for condemned persons.
Similarly, the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, explained why he could not sign death warrants for condemned persons.
The State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Joseph Johnson, said Governor Fubara was a human being who had human feelings, adding that it was not his priority to do so.
Johnson stated, “The governor is a human being and cannot sign a document that will take the life of another. For my governor, I think that anybody who is humanitarian may not be quick to sign the death warrant of another person. So, we are human beings; it is not anybody’s priority to sign a death sentence of another person.”
Also, it was gathered that neither the current Niger State Governor Mohammed Bago nor any chief executive of the state has signed any death warrant since the country returned to democratic rule in 2023.
A government official, disclosed that no Niger State governor since the inception of democratic rule in 1999 had signed the death penalty.
Meanwhile, the former Chairman of the Ilorin branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, Joseph Bamigboye, said that governors’ refusal to sign death warrants of convicted criminals was unconstitutional and was an attempt to blackmail the judges.
