EU condemns capital punishment in Nigeria

Mr. Alan Munday, Head of EU Political Governance and Democracy Section in Nigeria said this recently at a media briefing in Abuja to mark the final conference of a programme called “Save Lives”, which was organised by a non-governmental organisation, Avocats Sans Frontieres, France (Lawyers without Borders, France).Mr. Munday said: “The EU holds a strong […]

Mr. Alan Munday, Head of EU Political Governance and Democracy Section in Nigeria said this recently at a media briefing in Abuja to mark the final conference of a programme called “Save Lives”, which was organised by a non-governmental organisation, Avocats Sans Frontieres, France (Lawyers without Borders, France).
Mr. Munday said: “The EU holds a strong and principled position against the death penalty and its abolition is a key objective for the European Union’s human rights policy as exemplified by the fact that the EU is the leading institutional actor and largest donor to the fight against the death penalty.”
He noted that the Save Lives Project had been able to enhance the capacity of judicial stakeholders in the target states of Nigeria.
The EU head in Nigeria identified some of the cases of inmates who were put on death row in the country as those of Maimuna Abdulmumini, accused of murder when she was 13-years-old and sentenced to death while nursing an infant, and Thankgod Ebhos.
Earlier, ASF France Head of Office in Nigeria, Ms. Angela Uwandu, highlighted some of the organisation’s achievements in the last three years.
She said, “35 inmates facing death penalty have been released on court order.”
Uwandu explained that her organisation was not in support of convicts.  She noted that ASF France’s stance against death penalty was necessitated by the “defective criminal justice system in the country” that hampers effective criminal justice delivery.
Low point of the event was the narration by one of the freed inmates, Mr.CalistusIkeh, who was on death row for 16 years in Enugu State.