Almost 10 years after the death of Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, his father — Pa Beesam Wiwa — remains angry and sad.
A tribunal appointed by General Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s military ruler at the time, sentenced Saro-Wiwa to death in 1995 after a controversial trial. Pa Wiwa says the execution left him embittered.
”Abacha killed my innocent son. What has he done? He asked for what God gave the Ogoni people — he was hanged for that,” he says.
The Nigerian government claimed Saro-Wiwa was responsible for the death of four tribal chiefs. But, the general belief is that he was executed because of his demands for the Ogoni ethnic group to be given a greater share of profits from Nigeria’s oil industry.
Most oil extraction occurs in the Niger Delta region where the Ogonis live. Oil sales from this area account for more than 90% of Nigeria’s income.
Evidence presented at a human rights panel four years after Saro-Wiwa’s death showed that his trial and execution had not followed legal procedure. A military council that was supposed to hear his appeal against the death sentence did not do so. The government hurriedly ordered his execution before copies of the judgement were even passed to the council.
And, Saro-Wiwa’s case isn’t the only instance where the death penalty has been applied under questionable circumstances. Another instance in the southwestern state of Oyo saw a man executed while an appeal against his sentence was pending at the Supreme Court. These incidents have prompted a debate about capital punishment in Nigeria that has been growing louder recently.
The country’s largest human rights group, the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), has been clamouring for the death penalty to be abolished for several years. Chuma Ubani, who heads the group, says this is essential to prevent further miscarriages of justice.
”One of the arguments we have against the death penalty is that once the punishment is inflicted, it is final. Even if at the end of the day it is found that it was done in error, there can be no remedy,” he said.
After coming under pressure from European parliamentarians to do away with capital punishment, the Nigerian government has initiated a countrywide debate to gauge national opinion on this matter. Discussions coordinated by the Ministry of Justice are being held in major cities around the country, to allow people to air their views.
”We will take the debate round the nation so that we can get the views of everybody who has something to offer,” says Akin Olujinmi, Minister of Justice and Attorney General.
The minister adds that the objective of the national debate is to see whether Nigerians can agree on a common approach to the death penalty issue. If anything, however, the debate is illustrating just how divisive the topic is.
In the course of a discussion held in Lagos, AI Akpe — head of the Nigerian Prison Service — attacked human rights groups. He accused them of staging a propaganda campaign, and said their statements about capital punishment needed to be re-examined.
Akpe, who presented the official position of the prison service during the debate, said capital punishment should not be abolished because of the low value criminals themselves put on human life.
”He who kills by the sword, dies by the sword. If a person does not have regard for the life of his fellow citizen, he too should not be spared,” Akpe said.
He added that 476 men and 11 women were awaiting execution in Nigerian prisons, with some having been on death row for up to 10 years.
This, he said, was a source of pain and frustration to relatives of crime victims, ”because the relations of the victims of the crime feel more hurt when they know that their beloved ones have been sent to the grave, while the offender is still living”. Akpe believes this situation could generate ”conflict in the society”.
Strong opposition to abolishing capital punishment has also come from the Muslim community in northern Nigeria where Islamic law is practised. This system, also referred to as sharia, allows for the death penalty.
A number of Muslims argue that sharia was inspired by God himself, and that to abolish the death penalty would mean contravening divine instructions that certain offences be punishable by death.
”The laws of God must be obeyed. If God’s laws are contravened there can never be peace,” says Umar Abubakar, a Muslim youth from Funtua in northern Nigeria.
Certain Muslims have also accused the Nigerian government of coming under pressure from Western countries to abolish the death penalty.
For his part, Ubani fears the discussions might not be as wide-ranging as the government suggests: ”It is an issue in which people have very strong feelings either way, and before you get to the point of legislation you really need to canvas properly why we need to abolish the death penalty.”
However, Olujinmi maintains that the divergent views that Nigerians have been expressing show a comprehensive debate is under way.
”Some are for the death penalty, others say no — no death penalty. That is the way the argument will continue, and I am sure at the end of the day it should be possible for us to have something like a common position on the matter.”
”It is not as if anybody is going to take a decision without the views of the majority of Nigerians,” he added.
The minister says that at the conclusion of the debate, the various viewpoints will be set out in a report that will be submitted to the National Assembly.
This body will use the report as a basis for making a decision about the death penalty. — IPS