Shehu Sani Calls For Review Of 4,000 Nigerians Awaiting Execution

Former Kaduna Central Senator Shehu Sani has called for a review of the cases of nearly 4,000 Nigerians on death row, saying some have spent more than 30 years awaiting execution.

Sani said the prolonged detention of inmates awaiting execution posed security and management challenges for correctional facilities, urging authorities to consider commuting the sentences of deserving inmates.

The former lawmaker made the call in a post on his X handle on Friday, noting that many inmates had remained on death row since the military era.

“There are close to 4K Nigerians on death row (awaiting execution) in the Nigerian Prisons now known as the correctional facility,” he wrote.

“Many have been there for over 30 years, since the Military era. No Governor wants to sign their execution and no one wants to commute their sentence.”

LEADERSHIP notes that Section 12(2)(c) of the Nigerian Correctional Service Act, 2019, provides that a chief judge may commute a death sentence to life imprisonment where the convict has exhausted all legal avenues of appeal and the sentence has remained unexecuted for 10 years. <Cite refs={[“turn901691search24″,”turn901691search1”]}/>

Sani said managing inmates awaiting execution presented a difficult task for correctional authorities because of the security challenges associated with their status.

“Managing a person on death row is a tough security problem for the correctional services. They are not as easy to handle, in view of their situation,” he said.

While acknowledging the difficulty of making decisions on capital offences, the former senator argued that the cases required fresh reviews to ease the burden on correctional facilities.

“It’s not easy to take a decision on capital offences, but their cases need be reviewed to ease the burden on the services,” he added.

He urged correctional authorities to advise the government on inmates who might qualify for clemency, saying their assessments could guide decisions on whether some death sentences should be commuted.

“The correctional services can give the Government the best advice on those among them who deserve clemency,” Sani said.

His call comes amid concerns about the prolonged detention of inmates on death row and the challenges correctional authorities face in managing them while their sentences remain unimplemented.