Why we executed 4 convicts on death row – Edo Govt

Edo State government has explained why it recently executed four convicts who were on death row.  The state’s Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Mr. Henry Idahagbon, threw more light on why the ordered the execution of the convicts, an action that has drawn the ire of the human rights community in the country and internationally. Idahagbon made this clarification when civil society organizations and student leaders led by the Executive Director of Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, Reverend David Ugolor protested to the State Ministry of Justice. They presented two communiqués on extra judicial killings and the killing of criminals on death row issued at the end of two separate meetings held by civil society organizations and student leaders from various higher institutions in Edo State.  According to Idahagbon, any state governor is under a legal duty to sign execution warrants, saying failure which the governor can be sued in accordance with the provisions of the law. He said the advocacy of the Amnesty International and the civil societies in Edo State should therefore be directed towards amending the country’s criminal code so that death sentences can be commuted to life imprisonment, and expunged from the law.
“The advocacy of the Amnesty International; the advocacy of the civil societies here should be directed towards amending our laws. As we speak today; in Edo State, there are three offences that carry death penalty. The first is murder under section 319, the second is armed robbery, the third is treasonable felony. And when a person is charged with armed robbery or any of these three offences, the judge has no discretion. He must impose the sentence of death, because that is the law. “And let me say finally, every governor of a state is under a legal duty, a constitutional responsibility to sign execution warrant,” Idahagbon  emphasised. He said the execution warrant was signed on the four convicts after they had exhausted all their rights known to law in the country, right from the High Court to Appeal Court and finally at the Supreme Court where death sentences were imposed on them all through. Idahagbon said they were sentenced to death due to the level of crime they committed. “The four convicts are persons who have exhausted all their rights known to law in this country. Their sentences had been confirmed since 1993, 1994 and only one of them was 2000.
“Daniel Nsofor entered a vehicle from Ekpan to Ehor and with two others and a lady called Maria Imariagbe. At about 07:15, they disembarked from the vehicle at Ehor and then they got Maria Imariagbe; they strangulated her, killed her and collected her money. “Chima Ejiofor was an auto spare parts dealer in Benin here. He had a relationship with a woman that led to the birth of a baby. The baby was two-and half-months old. He came to visit the baby and the mother at their house; he gave money to the mother to go and buy Coca Cola, and before she came back, he poured acid into the mouth of the baby and the baby died. What was his excuse, that as a first child, from his state of origin, he is not expected to have a child out of wedlock.
“Osarenmwinda Aigbokhian went into the bush and he claimed he saw a big deer, so he shot at the deer and the deer died. He went there and he started butchering the deer. While butchering the deer, the deer turned to a human being. He didn’t stop to say let me run to the village; come and see the wonder of the world, the deer has turned to a human being, but he kept on butchering his victim. He cut the human being into small parts and buried it; (in) several parts of the bush. And when autopsy was done, there was no mark of any bullet, so there was no shooting. The person was killed with a very sharp object. “The one remaining (Richard Igagu) was not executed because the sentence of the court is that he should die by firing squad. He went with his gang to a house to rob. After robbing the man of his possession, they raped the wife. And after raping the woman, they took a bottle and inserted into her private part until she bled to death.” Earlier, leader of the advocacy group, the Executive Director of Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, Reverend David Ugolor said their concern is to put an end to the incidence of extra-judicial killings and killing of convicts on death row as there are other stiffer punishments that could be meted out to offenders instead of death sentence.
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