The European Union, have appealed to the Nigerian Government to join the growing list of African nations that have abolished capital punishment in the administration of law.
African countries that have abolished death sentence in their jurisprudence are Rwanda, Burundi, Togo, Gabon, Benin, Congo, Madagascar, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Chad and Sierra Leone.
In a joint statement by Avocats Sans Frontières France, the Ambassade de France in Nigeria, the Delegation of the European Union to Nigeria and ECOWAS, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Nigeria and the Institut Français du Nigéria want governments of nations still practising the death penalty, including Nigeria, to put in place an official moratorium as a first step towards its abolition.
The EU and the council of Europe reaffirmed their opposition to the use of capital punishment in circumstances calling for worldwide abolition of the death penalty.
The statement described death penalty as an obsolete punishment that grossly contradicts the individual’s right to life and a gross violation of fundamental human rights.
The statement added that no state should have the power to take a person’s life.The statement further stated that death penalty disproportionately affects
the most vulnerable of the society, who most times lack the resources to engage the services of a lawyer.
They maintained that justice should never be to the disadvantage of the less privileged.
According to the statement, Studies by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty have also revealed that the death penalty does not serve as a
deterrent as it doesn’t stop crimes from recurring.
A collective stance against the death penalty should not be mistaken for a stance for unaccountability for crimes committed.
Perpetrators of crimes must be held accountable and punished for their deeds, but narrowing the scope down to the effectiveness of judicial measures, the death penalty has been ineffective and does not serve as a deterrent.
Editor Paul Akhagbemhe
