No order yet to execute Reverend King –Prisons

• They want to kill him in secret, says brother

A few weeks back, a shocking rumour travelled like wildfire among supporters of the General Overseer of Christian Praying Assembly (CPA), Chukwuemeka Ezeugo, aka Reverend King, inside the Maximum Prison Kirikiri, Lagos State. 

Nobody was sure how it started, but it travelled and reached many ears, including the media.
The rumour was that Reverend King, whom the Supreme Court in Abuja affirmed death sentence passed on him, over the brutal killing of a member of the church, Ann Uzoh, had been hanged secretly. But the Nigerian Prisons Service said it was just a rumour.
According to them, Reverend King was hale and healthy. A prison source said the rumour of his death shocked many of them in the prison yards. According to the source, he was part of those that believed the story of Reverend King’s death because every of the top personnel, serving with the Nigerian Prisons Service, appeared to be under a cult like silence over discussions that had to do with Reverend King.
The source said: “We heard different versions of what may have happened or had happened to King. One version says he had been hanged, another version says he hadn’t been hanged. But he’s not in any of our prison facilities in Lagos.
Anytime any of us attempted to ask questions about him, our bosses would say, it’s a classified matter. “A hang man was brought in because of Reverend King. Since the hang man came on board, nobody had been convicted or sentenced to death by hanging. So, why was he employed? All controller generals in different states have been unusually silent. Reverend King’s story has died. He’s not in Ibadan or Ilaro. If he had been hanged, his church members may not know. Some of the pastors are even praying that he shouldn’t come back.”
The Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS) Public Relations Officer, Francis Enobore, laughed when he was asked if Reverend King had been hanged secretly. According to him, the last time he checked, Reverend King was still alive. He, however, asked the journalist to give him at least 30 minutes to further cross check his facts. He called back later to say it was a lie.
Francis said: “The guy is still alive, hail and healthy. Once a judgement has been passed that somebody should be hanged, it has to go through several processes, before such judgement can be carried out. After Supreme Court verdict, you can’t appeal anymore. He still wouldn’t be executed until his warrant of execution has been signed and endorsed.
The state governor of the state, where the offence was committed will have to sign it. Until that warrant has been signed, nothing would be done. Nobody touches Reverend King.” Some prison sources alleged that the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has said that he wouldn’t sign any death warrant because he doesn’t want the blood of any one on his hands.
When Mr. Steve Oluseyi Ayorinde, the Honourable Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Lagos State, was asked via text message about the alleged governor’s statement on death penalty, he refused to comment.
But Reverend King’s brother, Reverend Pastor Augustine King, who said he hadn’t had access to since 2015, added that it wasn’t true that Reverend King had been hanged. He was, however, worried that Reverend King might be hanged secretly before Nigerians, who are opposed to death penalty, get wind of it. Augustine said: “Reverend King had not been hanged.
He’s in Sokoto Prison. That was where he was kept before the Supreme Court decision. They denied us access to him since 2015. I however know for sure that there’s a nocturnal and clandestine high wired meeting by the group that roped him into a crime he didn’t commit, to kill him.” Augustine, who used the opportunity to reiterate Reverend King’s innocence, alleged that some group of people was determined to ensure that his brother was killed.
While alleging that proper investigations were not carried out by policemen that investigated allegation brought against Reverend King, Augustine insisted that Directorate of Public Prosecution omitted presentations of two vital written statements. These statements could have changed the course of the judgement, he said.
He said: “These people would stop at nothing to see that Reverend King is killed. I think that they want to kill him in secret, so that people against death penalty wouldn’t know. Some groups would stop at nothing to achieve this odious goal, but God is greater. These groups are even liaising with corrupt prison authority to stop CPA members from visiting him.”https://newtelegraphonline.com/no-order-yet-execute-reverend-king-prisons/