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
- DECEMBER 13, 2000NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Civil Liberties Organisation condemned the decision...
The Civil Liberties Organisation condemned the decision of the Federal Government to apply the death penalty to persons who vandalise NEPA installations and oil pipelines
- NOVEMBER 28, 2000NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Nigerian Government unfolded its plan to reintroduce...
The Nigerian Government unfolded its plan to reintroduce the death penalty for those found guilty of engaging in the vandalisation of public utilities, including the properties of the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA)
- SEPTEMBER 9, 2000NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia executed a Nigerian man for trying to...
Saudi Arabia executed a Nigerian man for trying to smuggle cocaine into the country
- AUGUST 28, 2000NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia executed a Nigerian man convicted of drug...
Saudi Arabia executed a Nigerian man convicted of drug smuggling
- AUGUST 2, 2000NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
At a press conference in Lagos the Chairman and Chief...
At a press conference in Lagos the Chairman and Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Mr Ihya D
- JULY 14, 2000NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
It was revealed by the Post Express that a total of...
It was revealed by the Post Express that a total of 72 Nigerians were executed by the Saudi Arabian government in the past eight years on charges of drug smuggling and armed robbery
- JUNE 19, 2000NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A Nigerian man had his hand amputated in Saudi Arabia...
A Nigerian man had his hand amputated in Saudi Arabia for pickpocketing
- MAY 30, 2000NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia executed a Nigerian in Jeddah for smuggling...
Saudi Arabia executed a Nigerian in Jeddah for smuggling an unspecified quantity of cocaine into the kingdom
- MAY 13, 2000NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Seven Nigerians were executed and three had limbs amputated...
Seven Nigerians were executed and three had limbs amputated in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, after being convicted of bank robbery and assault
- MAY 8, 2000NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Former military governor of Kaduna State, Col
Former military governor of Kaduna State, Col
- APRIL 26, 2000NigeriaDEATH 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 26 (no
- APRIL 23, 2000NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Thousands of people gathered in Nigeria's Niger Delta...
Thousands of people gathered in Nigeria's Niger Delta for the symbolic reburial of the writer Ken Saro-Wiwa, whose execution by the military government in 1995 aroused worldwide condemnation
- MARCH 22, 2000NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Buba Bello Kare Garke Jangebe, a Moslem man described...
Buba Bello Kare Garke Jangebe, a Moslem man described as a notorious cow thief, had his right hand chopped off from the wrist
- FEBRUARY 10, 2000NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mohammed Bello,...
Former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mohammed Bello, said that the introduction of full Sharia in any state of the country is unconstitutional, adding the adoption of Sharia would inflict capital punishment on its citizens without written law
- JANUARY 27, 2000NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Federal Government warned that it would invoke...
The Federal Government warned that it would invoke the death penalty or a 21-year jail term on hoarders of petroleum products
- JANUARY 4, 2000NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo granted a...
The Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo granted a pardon to convicts waiting more than 20 years for execution
- JANUARY 1, 2000NigeriaDEATH 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
- JANUARY 1, 2000NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The northern Nigerian states of Zamfara and Sokoto...
The northern Nigerian states of Zamfara and Sokoto have adopted Islamic sharia law in October 1999
- DECEMBER 1, 1999NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
In December, the Nigerian state was beginning to act...
In December, the Nigerian state was beginning to act against officials of previous regimes, responsible for crimes over a 13-year period
- NOVEMBER 23, 1999NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
On November 23, Nigeria's former Army Chief Of Staff, Lt
On November 23, Nigeria's former Army Chief Of Staff, Lt
- NOVEMBER 1, 1999NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
President Olusegun Obasanjo advocates the abolition...
President Olusegun Obasanjo advocates the abolition of capital punishment in a book, published in November, entitled This Animal called Man, which is replete with stories told to Obasanjo in detention by Nigerians falsely accused and jailed or later kille
- OCTOBER 14, 1999NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
On October 14, Mohammed Abacha, 32, was charged along...
On October 14, Mohammed Abacha, 32, was charged along with his father's personal security chief, Maj
- SEPTEMBER 27, 1999NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
On September 27, Nigeria protested to Saudi Arabia...
On September 27, Nigeria protested to Saudi Arabia over the Kingdom's execution of Nigerians, mostly convicted of possessing drugs, without informing the Nigerian Government in advance
- SEPTEMBER 4, 1999NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
On September 4, Safra Onaibi Slami, a Nigerian woman...
On September 4, Safra Onaibi Slami, a Nigerian woman convicted of drug trafficking, was beheaded in Jeddah
- AUGUST 13, 1999NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
On August 13, Ibrahim Mohammad Ali, a Nigerian national,...
On August 13, Ibrahim Mohammad Ali, a Nigerian national, was executed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for smuggling heroin into the Kingdom
- JULY 23, 1999NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
On July 23, a Nigerian national, identified as Idriss...
On July 23, a Nigerian national, identified as Idriss Aissa Muhammad, was beheaded in Jeddah Governorate, Mecca region of Saudi Arabia, after being found guilty of smuggling an unspecified quantity of heroin into the Kingdom
- JULY 22, 1999NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigeria signed the letter, dated 22 July 1999, addressed...
Nigeria signed the letter, dated 22 July 1999, addressed to the President of the Economic and Social Council, in which the retentionist countries dissociated from the Commission on Human Rights resolution 1999/61 on the question of the death penalty
- JULY 16, 1999NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
On July 16, a Nigerian woman named Aisha Saada Qassem,...
On July 16, a Nigerian woman named Aisha Saada Qassem, convicted of smuggling cocaine and heroin, was executed in Saudi Arabia
- JUNE 25, 1999NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
On June 25, the Federal Court of Malaysia unanimously...
On June 25, the Federal Court of Malaysia unanimously affirmed the conviction of three Nigerians - Johnson Oshodi, 34, civil servant Tunde Apatira, 37, and businessman Oladotun Lukmanu Umaru, 37 - sentenced to death for trafficking in heroin 9 years ago
- JUNE 20, 1999NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
On June 20, a Nigerian named Abdullah Ibrahim Mohammed...
On June 20, a Nigerian named Abdullah Ibrahim Mohammed was executed in Saudi Arabia for armed robbery