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
- 1,104
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 1,104 news items on Nigeria, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- MAY 16, 2006NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA. THREE POLICEMEN SENTENCED TO DEATH
an Orlu High Court in Nigeria presided over by Justice Benjamin Ahanonu Njemanze, sentenced to death three out of the six policemen for deliberately shooting a man to death while on duty.
- MARCH 31, 2006NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR STEALING BICYCLE
a 35-year-old man, Umaru Auta, was sentenced to death by hanging for stealing a bicycle. Auta had been arrested by the police in 1999 in a village near Toro, in Nigeria’s Bauchi State, and arraigned on a three-count charge of robbery, assault and unlawful
- MARCH 22, 2006NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA. MAN TO DIE BY HANGING FOR KILLING OWN DAUGHTER
a Sapele High Court in Nigeria’s Delta State sentenced a 34-year-old brick-layer, Justice Igbame, to death by hanging for killing his three-year-old daughter with a kitchen knife.
- FEBRUARY 20, 2006NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. APPEALS COURT REJECTS APPLICATION TO OVERTURN DEATH SENTENCE OF 2 MEN
the Singapore Appeals Court rejected the application of two men to have their death sentence overturned.
- JANUARY 12, 2006NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA. APPEAL COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE OF TWO MEN FOR MURDER
a Court of Appeal in Ilorin, Nigeria’s Kwara State, confirmed the death sentence passed on Bayo Ajia and Olayinka Aare for the murder of two men in an Ilorin hotel.
- JANUARY 1, 2006NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Nigerian Constitution states at Part II...
The Nigerian Constitution states at Part II...
- NOVEMBER 16, 2005NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA. SHELL AND PPMC WANT REMOVAL OF DEATH PENALTY FOR PIPELINE VANDALS
Pipelines and Products Marketing Company Limited (PPMC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and Shell Petroleum advocated that vandals of petroleum and gas pipelines should no longer be made to face the death penalty if caught.
- NOVEMBER 10, 2005NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA. ISLAMIC COURT SENTENCES TWO TO HANG FOR MURDER, SEXUAL ABUSE
a Nigerian Islamic Sharia court sentenced two men to death by hanging for killing and sexually abusing a three-year old girl.
- NOVEMBER 4, 2005NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA. EXTRA JUDICIAL KILLINGS PERSIST IN NIGER DELTA - AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
ten years after the hanging of Ogoni- born environmentalist and writer, Ken Saro-Wiwa by the regime of the late General Sani Abacha, injustices are still being carried out towards a lot of people in the Niger Delta, indicating high levels of neglect and i
- OCTOBER 24, 2005NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Nigerian Constitution states at Part II, Chapter IV on Fundamental Rights, Art.33.
The Nigerian Constitution states at Part II, Chapter IV on Fundamental Rights, Art.33.
- SEPTEMBER 6, 2005NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA. 2,987 PEOPLE KILLED UNLAWFULLY IN 2004
the Nigeria Police Forces were indicted as major perpetrators in a rising incidence of unlawful killings in the country, with over 2,980 people killed in 2004, a figure which represented a 400 per cent increase over a corresponding figure of 756 extra-jud
- AUGUST 3, 2005NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
a Nigerian Islamic court granted bail to two alleged...
a Nigerian Islamic court granted bail to two alleged...
- AUGUST 2, 2005MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
MALAYSIA. NIGERIAN WOMAN LOSES DRUG APPEAL, TO FACE DEATH
Malaysia’s highest court has sentenced a Nigerian mother of five to death after refusing to overturn her drug trafficking conviction, a newspaper reported.
- JULY 22, 2005NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. TWO TO HANG ON HEROIN CHARGE
Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi, a 19 year old Nigerian national and Okeke Nelson Malachy, 33, were sentenced to death after a 13-day trial for importing approximately $1.5 million worth of high-grade heroin into Singapore.
- JULY 13, 2005NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA. MEN CHARGED WITH SODOMY BY ISLAMIC COURT, FACE STONING
two Nigerian men appeared in court charged with committing sodomy and could face being stoned to death after they were caught together in a toilet in the northern Muslim city of Katsina.
- JULY 8, 2005NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA. MAN FACES DEATH FOR SODOMY IN SHARIA CASE, UN
Philip Alston, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions raised the alarm over the case of a man who was on death row in northern Nigeria awaiting execution by stoning after a Sharia court found him guilty of sodomy.
- JULY 8, 2005NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
STOP THE POLICE KILLINGS, UN EXPERT TELLS NIGERIA
Nigeria must act to stop police escaping with the murder of innocent people by claiming their victims were armed robbers, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, said.
- JULY 7, 2005NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNS RECOMMENDATIONS TO EXECUTE JUVENILES
as the National Political Reform Conference in Nigeria prepared to reconvene in the upcoming week, Amnesty International condemned the recommendations by its Committee on Judicial and Legal Reform that juveniles should be executed when they had committed
- JULY 6, 2005NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA. COURT DROPS TREASON CHARGE AGAINST YOUNG FOOTBALLERS
a Nigerian court found 53 young men who attempted to stage a football tournament in honour of the defunct separatist "Republic of Biafra" not guilty of treason, saving them from the gallows.
- MAY 31, 2005NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA. COURT UPHOLDS MAN’S APPEAL AGAINST STONING TO DEATH
a Sharia Court of Appeal, sitting in Bauchi State, Nigeria, upheld an appeal by Umar Tori against his conviction and sentence to death by stoning for adultery.
- MAY 19, 2005NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
United States Human Rights and Democracy report...
United States Human Rights and Democracy report...
- MAY 9, 2005NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
"A system that would take a life must first give justice."
"A system that would take a life must first give justice."
- APRIL 20, 2005NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA. COURT SENTENCES 15 TO DEATH BY HANGING FOR MURDERS
the Abakaliki high court, Nigeria, sentenced 15 people to death by hanging for killing three over a land dispute.
- APRIL 20, 2005NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigeria abstained from the resolution on the death penalty at the 61st UN Commission on Human Rights.
Nigeria abstained from the resolution on the death penalty at the 61st UN Commission on Human Rights.
- MARCH 31, 2005NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA. TWO MEN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MOTEL MURDER
Bayo Ajia and Olayinka Aare were sentenced to death by the Ilorin High Court, in Nigeria’s Kwara state, after being found guilty of the murder of Abdul Yekini Gobir and AbdulGaniyu Isele in an Ilorin hotel.
- MARCH 24, 2005IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
last-minute efforts by Samuel Iwukchukwu Okoye and Hansen Anthony Nwalise...
last-minute efforts by Samuel Iwukchukwu Okoye and Hansen Anthony Nwalise...
- MARCH 17, 2005NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
the High Court in central Nigeria’s Plateau State sentenced
the High Court in central Nigeria’s Plateau State sentenced
- MARCH 11, 2005NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
UNITED KINGDOM. SCOT ON DEATH ROW IN NIGERIA HAS MURDER CONVICTION QUASHED
the family of Scottish businessman Ian Millar, sentenced to death in Nigeria, spoke of their relief after his murder conviction was overturned. Millar, 56, spent a year and a half on death row after being found guilty of killing Anne Marie Gale, his girlf
- FEBRUARY 18, 2005NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
the Ogwashi Uku High Court in Delta State, Nigeria, sentenced three people to death
the Ogwashi Uku High Court in Delta State, Nigeria, sentenced three people to death
- DECEMBER 28, 2004NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
an Islamic Sharia court in northern Nigeria sentenced Danliti Rabiu to be stoned
an Islamic Sharia court in northern Nigeria sentenced Danliti Rabiu to be stoned