NIGERIA: MURDER CONVICT TO DIE BY HANGING AFTER 18 YRS

a panel of five justices of the Lagos Supreme Court in Nigeria okayed death by hanging for Basil Akpa for slitting the throat of his guest, Ikechukwu Njoku, 18 years ago, in his shop located at Jibia in Katsina State before dismembering him in order to make it easy for his corpse to enter a pit latrine. The apex court which refused Basil's plea for reversal of the death sentence passed on him by lower courts held that the convict having confessed to committing the crime, "has to face the gallows. After all, one bad turn deserves another." Justice Niki Tobi delivered the leading judgment in the case while four other justices of the court including Justices George Oguntade, Francis Fedode Tabai and Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad concurred. The crime took place on December 3, 1989 in a village called Jibia within Katsina State.