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
- NOVEMBER 19, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A Sharia court in Gusau Local Gov-ernment Area of Zamfara...
A Sharia court in Gusau Local Gov-ernment Area of Zamfara State sentenced a 40-year-old man, Nagogo Kakumi, to 40 strokes of the cane and two months imprisonment for contravening the Sharia law by marrying five wives at the same time
- NOVEMBER 15, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
For the very first time since the reintroduction of...
For the very first time since the reintroduction of the Shari'ah legal system in Nigeria, a man, Sani Rodi, was sentenced to death by knifing
- NOVEMBER 13, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Sokoto State government declared that the Federal...
The Sokoto State government declared that the Federal Government can not change the judgement of death sentence by stoning [for adultery] passed on Hajiya Safiyatu Husseini by the Gwadabawa Upper Sharia Court
- NOVEMBER 13, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Federal Government stepped into the recent death...
The Federal Government stepped into the recent death sentence passed on Safiya Tungar-Tudu, 33, by a Sharia court in Sokoto State, with the Attorney-General of the Federation and Justice Minister, Chief Bola Ige declaring that Abuja would not fold its han
- NOVEMBER 11, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
DevNet, a development information NGO, called on the...
DevNet, a development information NGO, called on the Federal Government and the Sokoto State Government to speedily intervene and save Safiya Tungar-Tudu from death by stoning
- NOVEMBER 9, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
An Islamic court in the northern Nigerian state of...
An Islamic court in the northern Nigerian state of Katsina sentenced a pregnant teenage girl and her lover to 100 lashes each for pre-marital sex
- NOVEMBER 8, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Irish Minister for Justice, John O'Donoghue, must...
The Irish Minister for Justice, John O'Donoghue, must intervene in the case of a pregnant Nigerian woman sentenced to death by stoning, protesters outside the Justice Department said
- NOVEMBER 5, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Barrister Abdulkadir Iman Ibrahim, counsel for Hajiya...
Barrister Abdulkadir Iman Ibrahim, counsel for Hajiya Safiyatu Husseini of Tungar Tudu, the pregnant woman condemned to death for adultery on October 9, appealed against her conviction on October 25, and also filed for a stay of execution until the Sokoto
- NOVEMBER 5, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Women In Nigeria condemned the death sentence for adultery...
Women In Nigeria condemned the death sentence for adultery given to Safiya Hussaini Tungar-Tudu, 30, by an Islamic court while her alleged lover, Yakubu Abubakar, 53, got off scot free
- NOVEMBER 4, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Women Advocate Research and Documentation Centre,...
The Women Advocate Research and Documentation Centre, [WARDC] a non-governmental organization, condemned the death sentence passed on Satiya Hussaina Tunger-Tudu for alleged adultery by an upper sharia court in Gwadebawa, in the northern Sokoto State
- NOVEMBER 2, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A pregnant woman sentenced to death by stoning by an...
A pregnant woman sentenced to death by stoning by an Islamic court in Nigeria has fled her home, an official said
- NOVEMBER 2, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A pregnant woman sentenced to death by stoning by an...
A pregnant woman sentenced to death by stoning by an Islamic court in Nigeria has fled her home, an official said
- NOVEMBER 1, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Apparently embarrassed by the widespread criticism...
Apparently embarrassed by the widespread criticism of the death sentence passed on a pregnant woman by an Islamic court in Nigeria's northern Sokoto State, the federal government joined in appealing against the ruling
- NOVEMBER 1, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigeria's Senate president Anyim Pius Anyim condemned...
Nigeria's Senate president Anyim Pius Anyim condemned a ruling by an Islamic court in northern Nigeria that sentenced a woman to death by stoning after finding her guilty of having pre-marital sex, news reports said
- OCTOBER 26, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The New York-based rights organisation, Human Rights...
The New York-based rights organisation, Human Rights Watch (HRW), condemned a recent ruling by an Islamic court in northern Nigeria that sentenced a woman to death by stoning for having sex before marriage
- OCTOBER 24, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International called for a prompt, effective...
Amnesty International called for a prompt, effective and impartial inquiry into reports that troops have shot dead more than 100 people in central Nigeria
- OCTOBER 11, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
An Islamic court in northern Nigeria sentenced a pregnant...
An Islamic court in northern Nigeria sentenced a pregnant woman to death by stoning for having pre-marital sex, court officials said
- OCTOBER 11, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) called on the...
The Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) called on the Sokoto State Governor, Alhaji Attahiru Barafawa and the President of the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, Sultan Muhammed Maccido to review the death sentence passed on a pregnant woman, Safiya Hussa
- SEPTEMBER 12, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Sharia Court in Birnin-Kebbi sentenced 35-year-old...
The Sharia Court in Birnin-Kebbi sentenced 35-year-old Attahiru Umaru to death by stoning for forcibly having anal sex with a seven-year-old boy in the Zamfara state capital
- AUGUST 13, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Tangerang District Court in Indonesia sentenced...
The Tangerang District Court in Indonesia sentenced to death Okwudili Ayotanze, 21, and Hansen Anthony Nwaliosa, 33, both Nigerian nationals
- AUGUST 2, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The official Saudi Press Agency reported that a Nigerian...
The official Saudi Press Agency reported that a Nigerian man was publicly beheaded in the Red Port city of Jeddah for smuggling cocaine into the country
- JULY 30, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A six-year-old Nigerian boy faces a possible death...
A six-year-old Nigerian boy faces a possible death sentence after a four-month-old girl drowned in his care
- JULY 17, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigeria's police chiefs vowed to stamp out the practice...
Nigeria's police chiefs vowed to stamp out the practice by vigilante groups of executing suspected robbers, BBC reported
- JULY 6, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nine northern Nigerian states have adopted the Sharia code
Nine northern Nigerian states have adopted the Sharia code
- JULY 2, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The News Agency of Nigeria reported that the Nigerian...
The News Agency of Nigeria reported that the Nigerian government was using all diplomatic channels to plead for clemency for four Nigerians sentenced to death in Libya
- APRIL 25, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigeria voted against the resolution on the death penalty...
Nigeria voted against the resolution on the death penalty approved by the UN Commission on Human Rights on April 25, 2001 (2001/68)
- APRIL 4, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigerian police described the death sentence passed...
Nigerian police described the death sentence passed in April on three mobile policemen as a "good and reliable" judgement
- APRIL 1, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Three Nigerian police officers were sentenced to death...
Three Nigerian police officers were sentenced to death for burning five people alive after robbing them at gunpoint
- JANUARY 23, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Victor Ombu, advocated...
Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Victor Ombu, advocated the death penalty on communal war mongers as a deterrent
- JANUARY 1, 2001NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty is provided for by the Criminal Code...
The death penalty is provided for by the Criminal Code and the legislation on civil disturbances for armed robbery, murder, treason, and offenses against the State