CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Section 402 (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 20152 reads as follows;
“the Sentence of the court upon is that you be hanged by the neck until you are dead or by
lethal injection.”similarly Section 273 of the Criminal Procedure Code and Section 367 of the Criminal Procedure Act3 have provided for the Death Penalty for capital offences.4 The Nigerian Constitution in Section 33 (1) provides,5 “every person has the right to life, and no person shall be deprived intentionally of his life, save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of criminal offences of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria” by implication the Nigerian Construction do recognizes the application of death penalty and where the offence is proved beyond reasonable doubt as required by the evidence Act, the courts have only two options, either to impose the Death Penalty or life sentence 6 In many State Judiciaries in Nigeria, death sentences passed on convicts over the years have not been carried out, many convicts are still in prisons waiting for the hang man to knock on their cells and if this is the case, what is the essence of passing a sentence that cannot be executed, thus raising the issue of efficacy of maintaining the Death Penalty in our laws? Recently, the application of the Death Penalty in the world has generated a lot of debate, especially at the international level. The proponents and opponents of its application have made the topic very interesting in the sense that up to date, this debate has not been laid to rest.
The debate over the removal of the Death Penalty from the Nigerian Criminal Justice System rages between abolitionists and receptionists. In 2007 and 2008, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 62/149 and 63/168 calling for moratorium of the use of the Death Penalty. Nigeria as a country is a member in the United Nations, it is duty bound to respect its obligation especially when it signs and ratifies any convention. Nigeria may not wish to be left behind, as such there is a need to consider the application of the Death Penalty from Nigerian perspectives to see whether it is still relevant, effective and serving its purpose or not.
While the international community is moving toward total abolition of the application of the Death Penalty for all kind of offences, Nigerian domestic laws duly recognized the Death Penalty. Thus, in Adeniji vs. State,7 the court has stated that: “the Death Penalty is constitutional.” Similarly, the Court of Appeal has held that: “The Death Penalty as per Sections 33(1), 233(2), 243 of the Constitution is expressly recognized by the Nigerian Constitution”. Also, the Supreme Court inOkoro vs. State8 andKalu vs. State,9 the Nigeriancourts have stated that “the Death Penalty and its method of execution is lawful and valid as same is sanctioned by both Sections 33(1) and 34(1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution.” Clearly, there is a contradiction between the Nigerian domestic laws and Nigeria‟s International obligation to comply with the above resolution. The Nigerian Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and any law that is inconsistent with its provision is null and void.10 Now how can Nigeria reconcile between its domestic law and its International obligations?
