Chief Mike Ozekhome, a lawyer and human rights activist...

Chief Mike Ozekhome, a lawyer and human rights activist prominent in the pro-democracy struggle until the military left the political centre stage in 1999, joined the national debate on the retention of the death penalty in Nigeria.
Q: What is your view on the argument that the death penalty should be abolished from our statue books?
A: "Before now I used to advocate for death penalty because I have always believed that there is a need for people who killed to be killed themselves. However events over the years have shown that such an argument is not tenable. One of the greatest arguments for the retention of death penalty is that it serves as a deterrence to other would- be criminals. But again experience has shown right from the time ? where these criminals were being executed people were still picking pockets. If you look at the advanced democracies of the world, apart from some few states in America, many other states have since abolished the death penalty. In America some people are executed through the gas chambers, some through lethal injections while in other countries some people are thrown down the valley, some are beheaded some have their limbs chopped off under Islamic [law] or stoned to death. In Nigeria it is by hanging and under military governments it is by shooting at the stakes at public execution. But in all these instances crime has not reduced by the deterrence of the penalty of death which is currently in our statute books. More importantly most governors in the country have shown great hesitation in confirming death sentences passed by the courts. It means there must be something about this death sentence that is not too appealing to people. I know that Nigeria is not yet ripe like Britain to say we don't need death penalty but I think what we can do is to remove the death penalty and substitute with life imprisonment with hard labour ? that would be enough deterrence."
Q: Don't you think abolition of death penalty will now breed more criminals and they will tend to be more vicious knowing that when they are caught they will only be jailed and not killed?
A: "On the contrary I think it has been having the contrary effect. Now criminals are more vicious, and more deadly. They just want to kill because they don't want to be caught because they know that once they are caught they will be killed. But if they now know that the society is now softer on them that the penalty is life imprisonment with hard labour and they will not be killed they may even be softer on their victim. I think we should abolish the death penalty."