Nigeria's Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) appealed...

Nigeria's Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) appealed to Abia State Governor Orji Kalu to exercise his prerogative of mercy for four Nigerians whose death sentence was recently affirmed by the Supreme Court.
CLO head of campaign, Ugochukwu Okezie said in a statement: "Our attention has been drawn to the affirmation on May 27, 2002 by the Supreme Court of the death sentences passed on Jerome Akpan, Monday Imo, Peter Nyando and Peter Job by an Umuahia High Court on November 30, 1999."
"The four persons were tried and convicted for the murder of Sampson Etim on April 22, 1988 and while acknowledging the heinous and reprehensible nature of the offence for which they were convicted, CLO hereby restates its unflinching disapproval of death penalty."
"On humanitarian grounds, we urge your Excellency (Governor Kalu) to exercise your prerogative of mercy by commuting the death sentence passed on the four persons to an appropriate term of imprisonment."
CLO noted that the four persons have been in detention since 1988. referring to these 14 years of incarceration, CLO pointed out that Section 34 of the 1999 Constitution prohibits the subjection of any person to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment. The organisation said it considers the death penalty as a veritable violation of the legal protection of the right to life. According to CLO, "criminological investigations have shown with abundant statistical evidence that the death penalty is not a deterrent to criminality.
The introduction of public executions of armed robbers has been followed by an upsurge in armed robbery incidents. In a similar vein, the public execution of convicted coup plotters has not provided a deterrent to coup-plotting in Nigeria."
"Recognising the need to elevate the value of human life, country after country has seen the need to abolish the death penalty. Not only have countries in the European Union abolished the death penalty, but they have a policy of not extraditing criminals to countries which impose and carry out the death penalty."
"Against the foregoing background and out of our perception of your Excellency's (Kalu) human rights sensitive administration in Abia State, we would wish to enlist your government in our resolute campaign for the abolition of the death penalty in Nigeria," CLO added.