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
- JUNE 1, 1999NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
In June, President Olusegun Obasanjo formed a 7-man...
In June, President Olusegun Obasanjo formed a 7-man panel, chaired by a retired Supreme Court Judge, Chukwudifu Oputa, to investigate abuses committed between 1994 and 1999 when thousands of perceived military opponents were either harassed, detained, jai
- APRIL 30, 1999NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
On April 30, Nigerian Al-Hassan Moussa Shahib was executed...
On April 30, Nigerian Al-Hassan Moussa Shahib was executed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for smuggling cocaine into the Kingdom
- APRIL 29, 1999NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
On April 29, the Commonwealth foreign ministers in...
On April 29, the Commonwealth foreign ministers in London adopted a recommendation to end the Nigeria's suspension from the 54-nation grouping of mainly former British colonies
- APRIL 28, 1999NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
On May 28, a Nigerian woman was beheaded in Mecca,...
On May 28, a Nigerian woman was beheaded in Mecca, Saudi Arabia for smuggling cocaine and heroin
- FEBRUARY 27, 1999NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
On February 27, former military ruler General Olusegun...
On February 27, former military ruler General Olusegun Obasanjo won the presidential elections that brought a democratic transition much closer
- JANUARY 1, 1999NigeriaDEATH 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, 1999NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Since coming to power, President Obasanjo has ordered...
Since coming to power, President Obasanjo has ordered the release of thousands of people held for more than two years while awaiting trial