Nigeria
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Retentionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · The death penalty is provided for by the Criminal Code...
- News items in the archive
- 1,117
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Nigeria is classified as Retentionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 1,117 news items on Nigeria, from 1999 to today.
In Nigeria the death penalty is provided for by the penal code and, in the northern states applying sharia law, also for offences such as apostasy and adultery. The methods provided for are hanging and shooting.
Sentences are numerous and death row is crowded, while actual executions are rare and concentrated in short periods. The archive follows sentences, executions and commutations.
Latest news
- SEPTEMBER 5, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIAN CATHOLIC SEEKS ASYLUM IN ITALY TO ESCAPE DEATH SENTENCE
a Nigerian Catholic man who fled his native land to escape execution has appealed to the Italian government to allow him to remain there, the AKI news service reports.
- AUGUST 30, 2007NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA HANDS SUSPENDED DEATH SENTENCE TO NIGERIAN
a Chinese court has handed a Nigerian man a suspended death sentence, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Nigerian Obi Chinedu was arrested last year in the Central Asian border region of Xinjiang after he aroused suspicion when he dashed to the toilet
- AUGUST 9, 2007MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
MALAYSIA: TRAFFICKER'S DEATH SENTENCE REINSTATED
a petty trader from Nigeria was devastated when the Federal Court, in Malaysia...
- AUGUST 3, 2007Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded two Pakistanis and a Nigerian for drug smuggling.
Saudi Arabia beheaded two Pakistanis and a Nigerian for drug smuggling.
- JULY 17, 2007Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: NIGERIAN EXECUTED IN JEDDA FOR SMUGGLING COCAINE
the Saudi Arabian news agency SPA website carried a Saudi Interior Ministry statement saying that the Court of Cassation has upheld the death sentence against Saghiru Kayudi Ijbaji, a Nigerian national who was convicted of the crime of smuggling cocaine i
- JULY 2, 2007NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA: POLICEMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING WIFE
the Sokoto State High Court in Nigeria sentenced Malam Usman Maigari, a 50 year old former Police Sergeant from Musawa town in Katsina state, to death for murder.
- JUNE 23, 2007NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International reported that a Nigerian national was sentenced...
Amnesty International reported that a Nigerian national was sentenced...
- JUNE 19, 2007NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIAN GOVERNOR URGED TO APPROVE DEATH SENTENCES
the Sharia Commission in the northern Nigerian state of Bauchi...
MAY 17, 2007NigeriaDEATH PENALTYSHARIA STONING FOR NIGERIAN MAN
A Sharia court in Nigeria's north-eastern Bauchi State has sentenced a man to death for raping two teenage
MAY 16, 2007NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA FREES ELDERLY PRISONERS BEFORE POWER SHIFT
Nigeria has granted an amnesty to all prisoners over 70 and to those over 60 who have been on death row
- MAY 14, 2007NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA COURT SENTENCES HOUSEWIFE TO DEATH BY HANGING
a Bauchi High Court sentenced Hussaina Muhammad, 23, a housewife, to death by hanging for killing her two year old step son Tajuddeen Muhammad.
- MAY 11, 2007NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA: SUPREME COURT ANNULS TWO DEATH VERDICTS
the Nigerian Supreme Court unanimously annulled the death sentence of police officer Simon Edibo...
- MAY 11, 2007Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA. FOUR EXECUTED FOR SMUGGLING DRUGS
Saudi Arabia beheaded three Pakistani men and a Nigerian by the sword after convicting them of drug trafficking.
APRIL 16, 2007NigeriaDEATH PENALTYthe Presidential Commission on the Administrative Reform...
the Presidential Commission on the Administrative Reform...
MARCH 21, 2007NigeriaDEATH PENALTYDEATH ROWS OVERFLOW IN NIGERIA
about 600 people are now crammed into Nigeria's disease-infested death rows.
- MARCH 12, 2007NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA. SUPREME COURT AFFIRMS STUDENTS' DEATH SENTENCE
the Nigerian Supreme Court affirmed the death sentence passed on three students of Oko Polytechnic, Anambra State, for robbing a woman of N4,000 at gunpoint.
- FEBRUARY 26, 2007NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA. SUPREME COURT AFFIRMS DEATH SENTENCES FOR MURDER
the Nigerian Supreme Court affirmed the death sentence by hanging of John Ogbu and Linus Eze, found guilty of murdering Basil Ezian on October 12, 1986, over a minor disagreement caused by excessive drinking.
FEBRUARY 23, 2007Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA. NIGERIAN EXECUTED FOR DRUG SMUGGLING
Saudi Arabia executed a convicted Nigerian cocaine smuggler, the second Nigerian drug trafficker to be put
FEBRUARY 18, 2007NigeriaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA. NIGERIAN BEHEADED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
a Nigerian man was executed by sword in the Saudi city of Jeddah. The man, identified as Omar, was
- JANUARY 26, 2007NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIAN SUPREME COURT ACQUITS MAN OF DEATH SENTENCE AFTER 15 YEARS
15 years after he was sentenced to death for murder, a police corporal, Mr. Sunday Udosen has been set
JANUARY 26, 2007NigeriaDEATH PENALTYSINGAPORE EXECUTES MEN FOR DRUG SMUGGLING
Singapore has executed two African men for drug smuggling after rejecting appeals for clemency by Nigeria's president, the UN and rights groups. Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi, 21, of Nigeria, and 35-year-old Okeke Nelson Malachy, a stateless African, were hanged
- JANUARY 16, 2007NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIAN COURT SENTENCES SIX TO DEATH FOR ARMED ROBBERY
a northern Nigerian court has sentenced six people to death after they were found guilty of armed robbery, the official News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported.
- JANUARY 16, 2007NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
the Supreme Court in Nigeria confirmed the death penalty of Adegboye Ibikunle...
the Supreme Court in Nigeria confirmed the death penalty of Adegboye Ibikunle...
- JANUARY 11, 2007NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
PREACHER TO HANG IN NIGERIA FOR BURNING FOLLOWERS
a Nigerian court sentenced a Nigerian evangelical preacher to death by hanging after finding him guilty of dousing seven members of his congregation with petrol and setting them ablaze, killing one.
- JANUARY 1, 2007NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Nigerian Constitution states at Part II...
The Nigerian Constitution states at Part II...
- DECEMBER 19, 2006NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA. DEATH SENTENCE FOR SEVEN CULT MEMBERS
a Lagos High Court in Nigeria convicted seven members of a cult group to death by hanging for the murder of an Islamic cleric.
- DECEMBER 10, 2006Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA EXECUTES NIGERIAN FOR DRUG SMUGGLING
Saudi Arabia executed a Nigerian man for drug smuggling.
NOVEMBER 26, 2006Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI EXECUTES PAKISTANI, NIGERIAN OVER DRUGS
Saudi Arabia executed a Pakistani
- NOVEMBER 21, 2006Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA. PAKISTANI AND NIGERIAN BEHEADED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
a Pakistani and a Nigerian convicted of drug trafficking were beheaded by the sword in the western Saudi city of Mecca.
- OCTOBER 31, 2006Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA. NIGERIAN WOMAN EXECUTED FOR DRUGS SMUGGLING
Saudi Arabia executed a Nigerian woman for drugs smuggling.