Chief Judge begs state governors to sentence prisoners to death

The chief judge of Delta state, Marshal Umukoro, says the signing of the death warrant would help reduce prison congestion and serve as deterrent to others

- Umukoro calls for synergy between the police, prisons and the courts in order to boost justice administration

Justice Umukoro has said signing the death warrant will help decongest Nigerian prisons.

The Chief Judge of Delta state, Marshal Umukoro, has urged state governors to sign the death warrant of inmates on death roll in order to decongest the prisons.

Umukoro who gave the charge on Wednesday, February 1, in Ibadan during the 2017 Aquinas’ Day colloquium of Dominican Institute said signing the death warrant would reduce prison congestion, and served as deterrent to others.

At the lecture titled: The Judiciary and Criminal Justice System: Odds and Ends,” Mr. Umukoro said recent statistics from the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, indicated that no fewer than 1,612 inmates are on death sentence in Nigeria prisons, Premium Times reports.

The chief judge also called for synergy between the police, prisons and the courts in order to boost justice administration.

He said: “Some criminal cases have been hanging without progress for over a year in some courts due to transfer of Investigative Police Officer (IPO) or as a result of IPO going on short course.

“Some courts too do not cooperate with the police and the prison to expeditiously dispose of criminal cases.

“This does not only lead to unnecessary waste of time, but also greatly affects the disposition of the accused person and the witnesses who look forward to seeing the end of the case."

Though local and international organisations such have Amnesty International have repeatedly called for the abolition of the death penalty, it is however still legal in Nigeria where it can used to punish people convicted of crimes like murder and armed robbery.

But before executions can be carried out, the death sentence must be approved by the state governor where the judgement was issued.

However, some state governors use their prerogative to commute the death sentences to prison terms.