Lawyers without borders condemn Lagos’ stance on death penalty
Advocacy group and rights activists, Avocats Sans Frontieres France also known as ‘Lawyers without Borders’ have reacted to the decision of the Lagos state government to retain the death penalty in its laws as a most unwelcome development.
Speaking on the development, Angela Uwandu, Head of the ASF France Office in Abuja, explained that more countries around the world are gradually abolishing the death penalty
“The death penalty is an anathema that dehumanizes the society. We oppose the death penalty in all situations and for all cases because it is cruel and inhuman and violates the right to life and the right to respect of human dignity as contained in section 33(1) and 34 (1) of the Nigerian constitution,” she said.
According to the group, this decision by the Lagos State government casts a shadow on the status of the state as a progressive pace setter in legal policies. It expressed disappointment at the Lagos state government for choosing to hinge this decision on the opinions drawn from 0.1 percentage of the estimated 20 million people who constitute the population of Lagos state; without first laying the groundwork to ensure that the public is adequately enlightened about the implications of the death penalty.
“The belief that the death penalty deters crime is fundamentally flawed because several studies over the years show that the death penalty does not serve as deterrence to crime. In the absence of an established link, the validity of this grave decision must be questioned. By its decision, the Lagos state government has chosen to promote vengeance and not justice,” Uwandu said.
Noting the relevance of public opinion in the formation of legal policies, ASF France reminded the state government that one of the challenges of making progressive decisions, is going against popular opinion.
It would be recalled that the Lagos State Government last week announced through its Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Ade Ipaye, that the state would retain its death penalty law to serve as an appropriate deterrence against crimes, such as murder and armed robbery.
The AG had explained that the state’s decision was based on empirical research and randomly conducted opinion polls that sampled the opinion of Lagos residents, regardless of the various aggressive death penalty abolition campaigns that have been launched in the state in the past decade.
“In taking its decision, the state commissioned an empirical research that surveyed the perception of Lagos residents and elicited their opinion on the abolition debate, including the question whether they believe death penalty currently deters violent crime,” he said.
According to Ipaye, the survey was undertaken in two categories: public survey (random selection of 2,000 members) and experts’ survey (selected 100 persons with close contact with the criminal justice process and systems). Over half of the respondents (51.1 percent) advised that convicts on the death row should be executed, 38.5 percent maintained otherwise, while 9.7 percent was undecided and 0.8 percent proffer no opinion. While 61.9 percent believed that death penalty is a necessary retributive tool, as much as 59 percent opined that it does not bring a sense of happiness to victims’ families. However, a ma
“The objective and outcome of the survey is to inform the development of a state policy on capital punishment that relies on empirical evidence and is based on consultation with citizens and justice sector stakeholders.”
ASF France however maintained that with death penalty being irrevocable, it would be a threat in the Nigerian society, where the criminal justice system is far from ideal in the adherence of due processes.
“The risk of executing innocents is especially high when you consider that in Nigeria, the death penalty is mainly targeted at the poor and the rich are rarely sentenced to death,” the ASF officer stated.
ASF France therefore called on the Lagos state government to rescind its decision and instead work towards ensuring the reformation of the criminal justice system so that its state laws would reflect the highest standard of respect for human rights.
Theodora Kio-Lawson