Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo expressed full...

Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo expressed full support for the worldwide abolition of the death penalty in a meeting with a Hands Off Cain delegation in Abuja. An HOC delegation, including MPs from the European and Italian parliaments, visited Nigeria on a week-long mission for talks with government authorities on the death penalty. In a meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on October 16, President Obasanjo said that he was committed to fighting to save lives and would continue the campaign "here in our country and internationally." "For me, the most sacred thing in life is life and none of us has the right to take what is so sacred. I am not against punishment but it should not be terminal," Obasanjo told the delegation composed of Italian MP Roberto Giachetti, European MP Benedetto Della Vedova, HOC General Secretary Sergio D'Elia and Moratorium Campaign Co-ordinator Elisabetta Zamparutti. He added: "Some of the mistakes we make in life can be corrected but the mistake of taking life cannot be corrected. We can never be absolutely certain that a death sentence is fair and taking one life never brings back another. If it is to serve as deterrent, taking life, in history, has never really served as a deterrent." HOC, an international non-governmental organisation of citizens and parliamentarians against the death penalty, informed President Obasanjo that it had dedicated its current annual report on the death penalty worldwide to him in recognition of his contributions to the campaign for the abolition of the death penalty. HOC also expressed its support of the Federal Government's efforts to develop democratic processes and the respect of human rights in the country in opposition to the political use and implementation of Sharia law in some of its northern states. Nigeria's Minister for Women's Affairs and Youth development Aishatu Ismail was also present at this meeting. First Lady Stella Obasanjo, during another meeting, signed the appeal for a UN moratorium on executions and against female genital mutilation. HOC also met several Senators who expressed different stands with regard the death penalty. Deputy Senate President Ibrahim N. Mantu expressed his support t of a UN moratorium on executions. The Archbishop of Abuja J. O. Onainekan also signed the international appeal for a resolution for a universal moratorium on capital executions that HOC is planning to present at the next UN General Assembly, which coincides with Italy´s presidency of the European Union in the second semester of 2003. HOC has been campaigning for a United Nations moratorium on executions since 1993 in the belief that such a moratorium would give all countries still applying the death penalty an opportunity to review their stand on capital punishment. HOC and the Transnational Radical Party also launched a campaign in favour of participation in the Miss World Beauty contest in Abuja on December 7 to protest against the death-by-stoning sentence given to Amina Lawal, a 31-year-old Nigerian mother condemned for having a child out of wedlock, whose sentence was under appeal. Contestants from Sweden, Italy, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Norway and Hungary had so far adhered to HOC's appeal.