Nigerians governors approve execution of convicted prisoners

Nigeria`s state governors have backed the execution of more than 300 prisoners on death row to clear space in the overcrowded jails of Africa`s most populous country.

Lagos: Nigeria`s state governors have
backed the execution of more than 300 prisoners on death row
to clear space in the overcrowded jails of Africa`s most
populous country.

"It was agreed that those people who have been condemned
should be executed accordingly," said Theodore Orji, governor
of the southeastern state of Abia, after a meeting of the 36
state governors in Abuja late today.
A total of 330 prisoners are on death row in a country
where capital punishment remains on the statutes despite
rarely being implemented.

The last official execution dates from 2002, but Amnesty
International, which campaigns against the death penalty, said
it has found evidence of ongoing secret executions in prisons.

The governors, who have the power to sign execution
orders, said also that 80 per cent of Nigeria`s prison
population is awaiting trial and efforts should be made to
"leave go" those serving lengthy remands, according to Orji.
Koyode Odeyemi of the Nigerian Prisones Service told AFP
that 36,000 of the 40,106 inmates are awaiting trial.

Human rights activist Chidi Odinkalu of the Open Society
Justice Initiative said that instead of clearing a death-row
backlog, the governors should probe the methods used by the
police to tackle crime.

PTI

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