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
OCTOBER 29, 2006AfghanistanDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA. MEN BEHEADED FOR DRUG SMUGGLING
Saudi Arabia beheaded two foreign nationals on charges they smuggled heroin and cocaine into the country, the Interior Ministry said.
- OCTOBER 12, 2006NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA. THREE PEOPLE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER
three people were sentenced to death after being found guilty of murder by a court in the Nigerian town of Katsina. Shafi'u Atiku, Saidu Najume and Ali Adamu of Maidabino village were found guilty of murdering Dayyabu Abdu of the same village.
- OCTOBER 11, 2006NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA. "HERETIC" MUSLIM CLERIC SENTENCED TO DEATH
a high court in northern Nigeria's Adamawa state sentenced the leader of an unorthodox and militant Islamic sect on the run for 22 years to death by hanging, state-run Radio Nigeria Kaduna reported.
OCTOBER 1, 2006NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA GRANTS REPRIEVE TO MORE THAN 100 DEATH ROW PRISONERS
more than 100 Nigerians condemned to death had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment as part of independence day celebrations in the West African country.
- JULY 18, 2006NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA. SUPREME COURT AFFIRMS DEATH SENTENCE ON POLICEMAN
more than five years after they committed the heinous crime, the Supreme Court has unanimously confirmed the death sentence passed on Constable Benjamin Oyakhire, one of the three police constables who murdered five businessmen on February 17, 2001 on Oke
- JULY 13, 2006South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. AMNESTY ASKS SINGAPORE NOT TO HANG TWO AFRICAN DRUG TRAFFICKERS
Amnesty International said it had written to Singapore President S.R. Nathan asking him to intervene to stop a Nigerian and a South African convicted of drug trafficking from being hanged.
- JUNE 27, 2006NepalDEATH PENALTY
INDONESIA. AUTHORITIES TO EXECUTE 16 DRUG OFFENDERS, INCLUDING 10 FOREIGNERS
Indonesian authorities were preparing to execute 16 people on death row for drug trafficking, an official said.
- JUNE 15, 2006NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Salisu Babuga was executed in Jos prison in Nigeria
Salisu Babuga was executed in Jos prison in Nigeria
- JUNE 12, 2006NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA. TWO SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RITUAL KILLING
a Mgbidi High Court, Nigeria, sentenced Obinna Onyema and Benjamin Arizo to death for killing one Damian Okorocha for ritual purposes, on October 8, 2002 at Ubaha Etiti Omuma, Oru.
JUNE 5, 2006NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER
an Asaba High Court in Nigeria, presided over by Justice Tessy Obiajulu Diai, sentenced 26-year-old trader Henry Ihiaeme to death by hanging for stabbing to death Endurance Odjegba during a scuffle over a bottle of beer on October 28, 2001.
- MAY 30, 2006NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Kenneth Ekhone and Auwalu Musa were executed in the central jail in Kaduna, Nigeria.
Kenneth Ekhone and Auwalu Musa were executed in the central jail in Kaduna, Nigeria.
- 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 PENALTYNIGERIA. 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, 2005NigeriaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA. 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, 2005SingaporeDEATH 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 PENALTYNIGERIA. 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
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 8, 2005United NationsDEATH 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 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.