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Tag: Death Sentence

  • Niger governor assents to laws recommending death sentence for kidnappers, informants

    Niger governor assents to laws recommending death sentence for kidnappers, informants

    Niger State Governor, Abubakar Bello, has assented to some laws in accordance with Section 100(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).

    The Laws include: The Kidnapping and Cattle Rustling (Special Provisions) Law, 2021, the Niger State Vigilante Corps (Amendment) Law, 2021; the Niger State House of Assembly Service Commission Law, 2020, the Office of the Auditor-General of the State Law, 2021 and the Office of the Auditor General of the Local Government Law, 2021

    Governor Bello said the Kidnapping and Cattle Rustling Special Provisions Law of 2016 is amended to provide for the punishment of informants and all those involved in the aiding and abetting of kidnapping and Cattle Rustling in the state.

    The Governor stated that informants who aid and abet Kidnappers would now have to face a death sentence by hanging in public as now enshrined in the state law.

    According to him, the law now provides that “whoever instigates any person to kidnap a person or rustle cattle, or intentionally aides, abets or facilitate by any acts of omission or commission of the offence of kidnapping and or Cattle Rustling is guilty of an offence and is liable on conviction to death by hanging in public”

    Bello said the punitive measure is a good stride and has become necessary given the security challenges that have continued to threaten the peaceful coexistence of the state in particular and the country in general.

    He regretted the unpatriotic activities of informants who, according to him, have contributed to thwarting efforts of the security agencies in combating the nefarious activities of Kidnappers and Cattle Rustlers.

    He also noted that the Vigilante Amendment Law is meant to invigorate and strengthen the state vigilante corp for better operational efficiency in the discharge of their statutory function of complementing the efforts of our conventional federal security forces.

    Meanwhile, Bello has expressed hope that the signing of the State Assembly Service Commission Law will further enhance the activities of Legislators and solidify the already existing synergy between the Executive and the Legislature.

  • Mali court sentences Keita, 14 others to death

    Mali court sentences Keita, 14 others to death

    Malian jihadist leader of the Katiba of Ansar dine du Sud, Souleymane Keita, and two other men have been sentenced to death by the Bamako Court of Assizes.

    The two other men sentenced on Friday were Boubacar Sawadogo, 51 and Moussa Maïga, 33, all from Burkina Faso.

    A dozen men were also sentenced to death in absentia.

    The men were all charged with terrorism, accused of preaching jihad in southern Mali and on the border between Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso.

    During the trial, Keita acknowledged the facts and expressed no regret for his actions.

    “I do not regret anything because our fight is against the secularism of the Malian state. If I have the possibility, I will start again,” he said bluntly.

    “I am not a terrorist; I am leading the jihad at the border between Mali, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire, in the name of Ansar Dine,” he said.

    Concerning his links with his accomplices, Souleymane explained that he had approached them to mount “large-scale operations”.

    His two accomplices, Sawadogo and Maïga belong to the branch of Ansar Dine in Burkina Faso, their country of origin, he explained.

    Keita, in his 60s, was accused of having, since 2012, fought in Konna, in the region of Mopti, in central Mali.

    He was said to have attacked and ransacked the military camp of Misséni and the town of Fakola, in the region of Sikasso, southern Mali.

    Souleymane created, after the French military intervention in January 2013, his Katiba, which is financially supported by Ansar Dine in the South, his home area.

    Before then, he fought alongside the Tuareg jihadist Malian leader, Iyad Ag Ghaly, in northern Mali, at the very beginning of the Islamist rebellions in 2012.

  • BREAKING: Port Harcourt serial women killer sentenced to death

    BREAKING: Port Harcourt serial women killer sentenced to death

    A Port Harcourt High Court on Monday sentenced Mr Gracious David-West to death for the serial killing of nine women.

    The court found Mr David-West guilty of killing nine women on different occasions in brothels situated in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State Capital.

    Police prosecutors said 26-year-old David-West strangled his victims in hotel rooms across Nigeria between July and September 2019.

    Presiding Judge, Justice Adolphus Enebeli said he is to die by hanging.

    One of his alleged victims survived the attack, but was not a witness during the trial.

    Authorities say her whereabouts are unknown despite being told not to leave the State.

    Police say he also confessed to the murders of six other women elsewhere but he was not charged for those murders for lack of evidence.

    Authorities say the pattern of the murders point to a serial killing – he had sex with his victims before binding their arms and feet with strips of white sheets.

    He also used sheets to strangle them, the court heard.

    Several of his victims were sex workers.

    At the beginning of the case and unrepresented by a counsel, David-West had pleaded guilty to the murders but the judge demanded a trial because of the “gravity of the crime”.

  • Blasphemy: Kano musician appeals death sentence; sues Ganduje

    Blasphemy: Kano musician appeals death sentence; sues Ganduje

    Yahaya Shariff-Aminu, who was sentenced to death for blaspheming Prophet Mohammed, has filed a notice of appeal.

    Shariff-Aminu was sentenced to death by an Upper Sharia Court on August 10, 2020.

    He was given 30 days to file an appeal and Governor Abdullahi Ganduje expressed readiness to sign his death warrant once timeline lapses.

    However, in the notice of appeal marked CR/43/2020 and filed by his lawyer, Kola Alapinni, before a Kano State High Court, the convict sued the Attorney-General of the state and Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.

    He based his appeal on one ground which is that Sharia law which formed the basis of his conviction was illegal and unconstitutional.

    It read in part, “The appellant’s trial, conviction, and sentencing by the Upper Sharia Court of Kano State pursuant to the Kano State Penal Code Law 2000 were unconstitutional, null, void having grossly violated and conflicted with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) as amended and having violated the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights respectively.

    “The Penal Sharia Code Law is only applicable and permissible in Islamic theocracies or countries whose constitution allows for such whereas Nigeria is a secular state with constitutional democracy and the constitution being the supreme law.”

    The convict said the state was quick to charge and convict.

    READ ALSO Falana receives Kano death sentence case details

    He noted that he was denied legal representation even though there is an existing framework for legal aid in Kano State.

    He said the trial was a secret one and was a breach of his right to a fair hearing.

    The appeal further read, “The Kano State Government as a party and prosecutor to the complaint is was a complicit party when it failed to provide adequate security and equal enforcement of secular laws and good order for all citizens/residents regardless of ethnicity or religious affiliations and thereby encourages religious fundamentalism, vigilante activities, insecurity, lawlessness, mob actions, all of which blasphemy law or provisions seek to justify unlawfully in order to placate Muslims.”

    He said the entity called Kano State is a creation of the constitution and thus cannot operate outside the constitution.

    The musician, therefore, prayed the court to set aside the trial, conviction, and sentencing handed down by the Sharia Court and entering a judgment in his favour.

  • Death sentence: Kano Judiciary submit case details to Falana

    Death sentence: Kano Judiciary submit case details to Falana

    Kano State Judiciary says it has submitted certified copies of the Sharia Court judgment to the Human Right activist, Mr Femi Falana, to enable him to appeal the judgment that sentenced Yahaya Aminu to death by hanging for blasphemy.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the development came less than seven days to the expiration of the 30-day grace the court granted the convict to appeal the judgment.

    Mr Babajibo Ibrahim, the Spokesman of the Judiciary, spoke with NAN on Thursday in Kano about the development.

    Ibrahim said that certified copies of the judgment were presented to the Falana’s representative on Wednesday in Kano.

    He explained that the Kano State Judiciary received an application by the human right activist, requesting details of the Sharia Court judgment, to enable him appeal the judgment.

    “The judiciary received a request from Mr Femi Falana’s representative on Tuesday and certified copies of the judgment were made available to him on Wednesday,’’ he said.

    It will be recalled that a Sharia Court in Kano on Aug. 10, sentenced the 30-year-old Yahaya Aminu to death by hanging after his conviction of blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad.

    Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje, on Aug. 27, indicated his readiness to sign the death warrant, if the convict failed to appeal the judgment at the expiration of the 30-day grace.

    Also, Ahmad Magaji, Controller, Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS) in Kano State, confirmed that the convict was in custody.

  • Death sentence, castration not sufficient to end rape – ASUU

    Death sentence, castration not sufficient to end rape – ASUU

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) says death sentence and castration of rape offenders is not sufficient to end incessant rape cases in the country.

    Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, National President of the union made this known in an interview in Ota, Ogun State on Sunday.

    Ogunyemi said that death sentence and other stiffer punishments imposed on armed robbers by the Federal Government had not yielded desirable result or end armed robbery in the country.

    He attributed incessant cases of rape to poor governance, noting that the individual may have problems and that the society also has to be blamed.

    “The country has to balance the two by looking on how best we can reform and how best the nation can create the environment to minimise the manifestation of this prevalent.

    “How do we create an environment where people will express their frustration on people by oppressing the innocent girls or women in the society,” Ogunyemi told NAN.

    He described rape as a form of pervasion and abnormal way of behaving caused by psychological dislocation or mental problem exhibited by the rapist.

    According to him, the social environment the nation finds itself also creating avenues for such act to be perpetrated.

    Ogunyemi, however, said that the nation needed to look back into the society to uncovered what the people were doing wrongly.

    The ASUU president said that imposing death sentence and castration on rapists, was just like going to an extreme without addressing root causes of the problem.

    Ogunyemi advocated a life sentence for rape offenders rather than death sentence, saying the offender could end up becoming an advocate against rape after undergoing reforms in the prison.

    He listed three factors to be considered in sanctioning rapists to include: the punishment must serve as deterrent to others, people must be reformed and the punishment must be commensurate to the offence committed.

    “The people will be able to rediscover their lives in the prison through proper guidance in term of reorientation and reeducation.

    “Through this process, the country can reclaim a sizable number of people that are sexually pervasive,” he said.

    He urged the federal government to grant free education and health care services to Nigerians to enable them pay more attention in bringing up their children as well as reduce pressure on family units.

    This, he said, would help to reduce the recurrence of rape in the country.

  • Lagos: Driver bags death sentence in first virtual court sitting

    Lagos: Driver bags death sentence in first virtual court sitting

    Justice Mojisola Dada of an Ikeja High Court has sentenced a driver, Olalekan Hameed, to death by hanging in the first virtual court sitting held by a Lagos court as part of social distancing measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Justice Dada sentenced Hameed to death by hanging for the Dec. 1, 2018 murder of 76-year-old Mrs Jolasun Okunsanya, the mother of his employer, Adetayo.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the court session was held online via the Zoom App.

    Hameed, participated from the Ikoyi Correctional Centre, Lagos, while his counsel and the prosecution team led by Lagos State Solicitor-General Ms Titilayo Shitta-Bey, participated in the session remotely from different locations.

    Judicial Officers including Justice Alogba, Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye, Justice Josephine Oyefeso, Justice Sherifat Solebo, Justice Afeez Dabiri, Justice Roli Harriman also observed the proceedings virtually.

    The state’s Attorney-General & Minister of Justice, Mr Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN) and some senior members of the bar including Mrs Funke Adekoya (SAN) Mr Tayo Oyetibo (SAN) and Mr Olukayode Enitan (SAN) also observed the proceedings.

    The proceedings were approved by Chief Judge, Justice Kazeem Alogba, in line with the Lagos State Judiciary Remote Hearing of Cases COVID-19 Pandemic Period Practice Direction.

    Delivering thee judgment, Justice Dada said: “It is also an established fact that although the defendant went to the house of the crime to steal.

    “The surprise of the deceased stumbling upon him led him to not just pushing the deceased, but actually strangulating her in a bid to keep her from crying out.

    “The case is clear, I have not found any contradiction with the evidence of the prosecution witness that can be deemed material or weighty enough to cast any doubt on the case of the prosecution against the defendant in this case.

    “The facts of the case are incompatible with the innocence of the defendant but rather his guilt on the two-counts. The defendant is hereby found guilty of this count two of murder and is hereby convicted as charged and accordingly sentenced to death.

    “The sentence of this court upon you, Olalekan Hameed, is that you be hanged by the neck until you be pronounced dead and may the Lord have mercy upon your soul. This is the virtual judgment of the court.”

    NAN reports that Hameed was arraigned on March 6, 2019 on a two-count charge of murder and stealing in a suit with charge no. ID/9006C/2019.

    According to the prosecution, the convict committed the offence at about 12:30pm at plot 83, Owukori Crescent, Alaka Estate, Surulere, Lagos.

    Hameed plead not guilty and trial commenced with the witnesses testifying on behalf of the prosecution.

    Exhibits were tendered during the trial including the coroner’s report, the allegedly stolen N97,500 and 117 dollars recovered from the defendant as well as his confessional statement.

    Hameed, testifying in his defence during the trial, denied killing the deceased.

    “The only money I took was the N1,000, any other money I don’t know about it. I did not kill Mrs Jolaso Ogunsanya,” Hakeem told the court during the trial. (

  • Coronavirus not a death sentence – Femi Adesina

    Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity has said that the novel coronavirus disease is not a death sentence.

    He spoke while assuring Nigerians on Wednesday that coronavirus-infected persons would receive adequate medical attention.

    The presidential aide, who cited the recovery of the index case to buttress his point, emphasised that anybody that tested positive should not panic as the virus was curable.

    “We also will pray along with the persons, give them our goodwill and best wishes and they will surely come out of it. Even the index case of the coronavirus disease in Nigeria recovered and has been discharged.

    “God that has shown us mercy thus far will continue to show that mercy. Anybody that test positive is not a death sentence, they will be attended to, they will be tested and they will be fine,” he said.

  • Late Oba of Lagos’ son sentenced to death

    Prince Adewale, son of late Oba of Lagos, Oba Adeyinka Oyekan, was on Monday sentenced to death by hanging for the murder of his boss, Alhaja Sikirat Ekun.

    Justice Raliatu Adebiyi of the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja convicted and sentenced him along with one Balogun after they were found guilty of murder.

    The case has been on for seven years before the court.

    The Lagos State government had accused the convict of contracting the second convict, Balogun for N6,000 to murder the 62-year-old businesswoman cum politician.

    They were said to have strangled Ekun and threw her remains in a 1,000 feet well located in her residence.

    Delivering judgment, Adebiyi stated that the prosecution had proven the charges of conspiracy to commit murder and murder beyond reasonable doubt.

    ”The circumstantial evidence was strong and cogent, the act of the defendants in killing the deceased was intentional and premeditated.

    “The court finds that the prosecution has proven beyond reasonable doubt the offence of conspiracy and murder and are accordingly found guilty of the two-count charge,” he said.

    Adebiyi said Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011 stipulated the punishment for the offence of murder, saying that subject to the provisions of any other law, a person who committed the offence of murder shall be sentenced to death.

    “Same is the punishment for conspiracy to commit murder as contained in Section 231 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011. The above cited provisions of the law does not give the court any discretion whatsoever in sentencing the defendants.

    “For this reason the first and second defendants are hereby sentenced accordingly on each of count one and two to death by hanging. May God the giver of life have mercy on your soul,” he ruled.

    The prosecution team, led by Akin George, had told the court that the convicts committed the offences at 1:00am on October 17, 2012 at the home of the deceased located at No. 5, Babatunde Lalega Street, Omole Phase One, Lagos.

    He said the deceased was a Restaurateur who knew Oyekan due to her friendship with his late mother and that due to the affinity between the women, Ekun employed the prince as the manager of her restaurant.

    He stated that Balogun, the second defendant, was a former domestic staff of Ekun who was employed by her to take care of her elderly father, adding that his employment was however terminated following a dispute with Ekun.

    “The convicts conspired, killed the deceased and threw her corpse in a well within the premises of her home and took over her businesses and properties including her bus which was sold for 170,000 Naira.

    The prosecution said when any inquiry was made by family and friends about her whereabouts, Oyekan informed them that she had travelled to Abuja for the Ileya (Id el Kabir) festival and that he passed this information by sending a text message from Ekun’s mobile phone.

    He explained that following panic and worry from members of Ekun’s family and after an extensive search, her corpse was found two months later in December 2012 by well diggers and fire fighters, adding that the convicts had placed a generator, a gas cylinder and other household items on the corpse to conceal it in the 1,000 feet well.

  • Presidency reacts over death sentence on eight Nigerians in UAE

    The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa has described the death sentence passed on eight Nigerians in United Arab Emirate (UAE) as unfortunate.

    Eight Nigerians were sentenced to death on Wednesday in Sharjah, UAE for a string of robberies at money exchanges and cash machines (ATMs) across the emirate in December 2016.

    Dabiri-Erewa said this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja
    The presidential aide who expressed concern over the development, however said the incident was not an actual description of personalities of people of Nigeria.

    ”It is an unfortunate incident, but it is not an incident that defines who we are as a people.

    ”If a few Nigerians have committed a crime for which they are being punished, thousands of Nigerians are doing great in that same country and are being appreciated and celebrated.

    ”Mr President, who meets Nigerians every time he goes on official trips outside the country, always appeals to Nigerians to be good ambassadors wherever they are.

    ”I must commend millions of our brothers and sisters excelling all over the world.

    “Bad news travels fast and I appeal to the media to help spread the good news about Nigerians and not concentrate only on the once in a while negative stories,” she said.

    All the convicted Nigerians were not identified by both the Gulf News and Khaleej Times, all UAE local newspapers, that reported the trial.

    A total of 20 suspects were initially held for attacking security guards in four violent attacks at ATMs and money exchanges across Sharjah in late 2016. Out of the suspects, nine were convicted.

    Eight of them were sentenced to death while the ninth person was sentenced to six months imprisonment.

    Some of the accused, confessed to their crimes while others denied the charges levelled against them.

    The verdict was handed down by Judge Majid Al Muhairi of Sharjah Criminal Court on Wednesday.