NIGERIA: NCOS BLAMES GOVERNORS FOR 5,000 INMATES AWAITING HANGMAN’S NOOSE FOR DECADES

At an Access to Justice in Nigeria parley, the Nigeria Correctional Service on November 7, 2023 raised issues over 5,000 inmates who have been sentenced to death by hanging but have waited for decades without their sentences being carried out.
The Controller-General, Nigerian Correctional Service (NC0S), Haliru Nababa, represented by Gimba Dumbulwa, Assistant Controller, Custody of the Service, said the delay is linked to governors and their reluctance to sign their death warrants, which is contributing to prison congestion.
“Some of those sentenced to death by hanging have stayed for 10, 15 or even 20 years in custody while their death sentence has not been signed by governors.”
He called on stakeholders from the respective states to use their Attorney Generals to influence their governors to see that those inmates on death row can have their sentences commuted to imprisonment. This he said is expedient so that those that have spent long years of sentence could be released.
According to him, there are 80,020 inmates with 5,076 awaiting death throughout the country.