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Secret executions uncovered in Nigeria

18 December 2007, 03:31PM

Secret executions have been taking place in Nigeria's prisons, despite recent assurances by the government that it has not executed in years. We have uncovered evidence of at least seven executions - all of which were by hanging - in the last two years, but we fear more may have taken place.

All those executed were convicted in a Kano state court and relocated to prisons across the country, including Jos, Kaduna and Enugu. Their death warrants were all signed by the current Kano state governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau.

"The Nigerian government has been misleading the world and they must now come clean on their death penalty record, establish an immediate moratorium on all executions in the country, and fully investigate how something like this could have happened," says Erwin van der Borght, director of Amnesty International's Africa program.

The detailed cases uncovered by Amnesty International include:

  • On 30 May 2006, Kenneth Ekhone and Auwalu Musa were executed by hanging in Kaduna Central Prison. They were tried and convicted by a Robbery and Firearms Tribunal, but did not have lawyers throughout the proceedings. They were also not given an opportunity to appeal against the judgments. Until his death, Auwalu Musa denied he had anything to do with the crime.

  • On 15 June 2006, Salisu Babuga was transferred from Kaduna prison to Jos prison, where he was hanged.

  • At least four men were hanged in Enugu prison in 2006.

We also believe that at least one execution has taken place in Port Harcourt prison. We are continuing to investigate in order to confirm the names of those executed and the dates of the executions.

On 15 November 2007, a Nigerian government representative at the UN spoke about the death penalty in Nigeria. He said, "punishment only comes after exhaustive legal and judicial processes, including recourse to the supreme court of the land . . . It is thus on record that we have not carried out any capital punishment in recent years in Nigeria."

Erwin van der Borght says:"It is inexcusable for a government to mislead about something as serious as the taking of human life, and we are shocked at what appears to be an attempt by the Nigerian government to deliberately deceive the international community."

Background information

Approximately 700 prisoners are estimated to be on death row in Nigeria. Until now, it has been widely assumed that no executions have taken place since 2002. More than 200 inmates have been on death row for over ten years, some for over 25 years.

On 18 December, the UN General Assembly will be voting to reaffirm the resolution calling for a moratorium on executions, agreed by the General Assembly's Third Committee on 15 November.

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