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 25, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
An Upper Shariah Court in Nigeria ruled that Amina...
An Upper Shariah Court in Nigeria ruled that Amina Lawal's conviction was invalid because she was already pregnant when Islamic Shariah law was implemented in her home province
- SEPTEMBER 25, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
On Amina Lawal's acquittal, Secretary of Hands Off...
On Amina Lawal's acquittal, Secretary of Hands Off Cain, Sergio D'Elia declared: "Amina Lawal was acquitted, according to the judges, due to the conviction being void as she was already pregnant when Islamic law came into effect in her state, as reported
- SEPTEMBER 25, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Governments in Europe and Africa as well as rights...
Governments in Europe and Africa as well as rights groups and Islamic scholars on welcomed a decision by a Nigerian court to acquit Amina Lawal
- SEPTEMBER 25, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
AN APPEALS COURT HAS ACQUITTED AMINA, SENTENCED TO DEATH BY STONING FOR ADULTERY
September 25, 2003: the Shariah Court of Appeal ruled on Thursday that Amina Lawal´s conviction was invalid because she was already pregnant when harsh Islamic Shariah law was implemented in her home province.
- SEPTEMBER 23, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Jibrin Babaji, a 43 year old Nigerian man, was sentenced...
Jibrin Babaji, a 43 year old Nigerian man, was sentenced to death by stoning by a Sharia court in the northern Bauchi State for sleeping with three boys
- SEPTEMBER 19, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Supreme Court in Abuja, Nigeria, upheld a death...
The Supreme Court in Abuja, Nigeria, upheld a death sentence passed on Andrew Nwachukwu in November 1999
- SEPTEMBER 18, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Sheik Isa Waziri, renowned Islamic scholar and chairman...
Sheik Isa Waziri, renowned Islamic scholar and chairman of the Kano State Sharia Implementation Advisory Committee, said that the provision of capital punishment would reduce the tendency for committing crimes in the society
- SEPTEMBER 11, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Lagos states Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, worried by...
Lagos states Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, worried by the incessant cultist clashes in the state's tertiary institutions, particularly Lagos State University, disclosed the introduction of capital punishment to any student cultist apprehended
- SEPTEMBER 11, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Muslim Right Congress warned that the proposed...
The Muslim Right Congress warned that the proposed abolition of death penalty was aimed at allowing the killers of the former Attorney - General and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige to escape the hangman's noose
- SEPTEMBER 10, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
"The subject of capital punishment is controversial...
"The subject of capital punishment is controversial and emotional," wrote Gabriel Osu in the Vanguard, "it is no longer considered as an appropriate form of punishment for murder or other serious crimes because it continues the cycle of violence; it is no
- SEPTEMBER 8, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigerian Abdul Hafid Ouari, convicted of smuggling...
Nigerian Abdul Hafid Ouari, convicted of smuggling cocaine into Saudi Arabia, was publicly beheaded in the Saudi city of Jeddah
- AUGUST 27, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A Nigerian Islamic court said it would wait another...
A Nigerian Islamic court said it would wait another four weeks to pass judgement in the case of Amina Lawal, a single mother sentenced to be stoned to death for adultery
- AUGUST 19, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A Nigerian Islamic appeal court quashed the conviction...
A Nigerian Islamic appeal court quashed the conviction of Had Sarimu Mohammed, a 55-year-old peasant farmer who had been sentenced to be stoned to death for the rape of a nine-year-old girl
- AUGUST 13, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Emir of Gwandu, Alhaji Mustapha Haruna Jokolo,...
The Emir of Gwandu, Alhaji Mustapha Haruna Jokolo, said that any Muslim supporting the removal of capital punishment from the Nigerian constitution should regard himself as an infidel
- AUGUST 13, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The chairman of the Katsina State chapter of Izala,...
The chairman of the Katsina State chapter of Izala, Sheik Yakubu Musa, declared that Muslims would resist any attempt to abrogate capital punishment in Nigeria, saying that doing so will be tantamount to tampering with Sharia law, the Islamic legal system
- AUGUST 13, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives Aminu...
Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives Aminu Bello Masari said that no matter related to the abrogation of capital punishment in the country had ever been tabled before the House
- AUGUST 11, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Kano State governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau condemned...
Kano State governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau condemned in strong terms the Federal Government's proposal to abolish capital punishment in Nigeria
- AUGUST 10, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
In an interview with Sunday Vanguard Abdul Oroh, journalist,...
In an interview with Sunday Vanguard Abdul Oroh, journalist, Nigerian parliamentarian and Hands Off Cain board member, stated: "I want to see a bill that will introduce a moratorium on death penalty in Nigeria, I don't believe in capital punishment
- AUGUST 4, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu...
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari, gave assurances that the National Assembly would support the abrogation of capital punishment from the nation's laws
- JULY 29, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Marco Cappato, Lista Bonino MEP, together with Italian...
Marco Cappato, Lista Bonino MEP, together with Italian Ambassador Marcello Ricoveri and vice President of the Commission of Human Rights of the Nigerian Chamber of Deputies Hon
- JULY 28, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Marco Cappato, Lista Bonino MEP, and Nigerian parliamentary...
Marco Cappato, Lista Bonino MEP, and Nigerian parliamentary Abdul Oroh, both Hands Off Cain board members, together with Marcello Ricoveri, Italian ambassador to Nigeria, met with Nigerian Foreign Minister Saisu Balarabe Samaila, on the purpose to obtain
- JULY 22, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Human Rights Watch published a damning 32-page report...
Human Rights Watch published a damning 32-page report into the November 2002 violence, in the northern city of Kaduna, alleging that police and soldiers had shot indiscriminately during a riot which left 220 dead
- JULY 15, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Amina Lawal, the Nigerian woman sentenced to death...
Amina Lawal, the Nigerian woman sentenced to death last year for adultery by a Sharia court in the state of Katsina, will not be stoned, Zamfara state Minister for Women and Children's Affairs, Amina Yusuf Garba, told the Italian daily Avvenire
- JUNE 4, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The appeal hearing of two former lovers sentenced to...
The appeal hearing of two former lovers sentenced to death by stoning by an Islamic court in Nigeria was adjourned till June 2003
- JUNE 3, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Amina Lawal had her appeal adjourned until 27 August...
Amina Lawal had her appeal adjourned until 27 August as she sought to overturn a conviction for adultery
- JUNE 3, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
AMINA LAWAL’S STONING APPEAL ADJOURNED
June 3, 2003: Nigerian woman Amina Lawal has had her appeal adjourned until 27 August as she seeks to overturn a conviction for adultery. She had been convicted of adultery in March last year by a court in the northern state of Katsina.
- MAY 3, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
In an editorial entitled 'Impunity and Human Rights'...
In an editorial entitled 'Impunity and Human Rights' Chino Obiagwu stated "in 2002, we recorded ? over 150 cases of summary or extra judicial executions, that is, killings by police and other security agents
- APRIL 22, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Sergio D'Elia, Secretary of Hands Off Cain, declared:...
Sergio D'Elia, Secretary of Hands Off Cain, declared: "Obasanjo's re-election is today the best guarantee in Nigeria for the life of Amina Lawal and others who risk being sentenced to death by the political use of Sharia law as applied by the twelve north
- APRIL 22, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Outgoing President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo has...
Outgoing President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo has been re-elected in the first round of the presidential elections
- APRIL 22, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA: PRESIDENT OBASANJO REELECTED
April 22, 2003: Outgoing President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo has been re-elected in the first round of the presidential elections. The fact is confirmed by the election results published by the national independent electoral commission of Abuja.