This was stated by the country’s Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) while giving his opening remark on Tuesday at The United Nations Universal Periodic Review in Geneva.
The Nigerian Government has told the United Nations that the country has not supported the abolition of the death sentence for convicted criminals as advocated by many powerful nations.
This was stated by the country’s Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) while giving his opening remark on Tuesday at The United Nations Universal Periodic Review in Geneva.
The minister stated that the President Bola Tinubu-led government is proposing a temporary prohibition by incorporating into its laws the provision that a death sentence that is not executed within ten years becomes ineffective and immediately converts to life imprisonment.
Mr Fagbemi added that there has not been a case of execution of a death sentence in Nigeria since the United Nations Universal Periodic Third Review over three years ago.
He said, “Nigeria retreats its support for the Universal Periodic Review as an important mechanism of the United Nations Human Rights Council Integral to the promotion and protection of human rights.
“Nigeria is committed to her obligations under the human rights treaties. We have taken steps to domesticate these instruments in our national legislations, including the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and human rights treaties ratified by our country.
“Our delegation is pleased that our national report for the 4th cycle review has generated a lot of interest and elicited a number of advanced questions and comments from the delegations from Belgium, Germany, Liechtenstein, Slovenia, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States of America and Portugal. We wish to respond to the advanced questions in somatic cluster as follows: Death Penalty and Moratorium.
“On the status of death penalty and moratorium, similar recommendations were made during the third cycle. We have elaborated on new positive developments in this area in paragraphs 302 to 306 of the National report. We state further that section 12(2)(C) of the Nigerian Correctional Service Act, 2019 provides for the transmutation of death sentence to life imprisonment for cases that have exhausted all legal remedies where the sentence has not been executed after 10 years. No execution has been carried out since the third cycle, which implies that a voluntary moratorium may be in place.
“With regards to the adherence to the Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, we state that Nigeria has not signed or ratified this protocol and has not supported recommendations on the abolition of death sentence.”
“Protection of rights and vulnerable groups, including older persons and children. Inquiries have been made from us or measures in place to combat ageism in all its forms. And to protect the human rights of older persons, we reiterate our commitment to the protection of rights of vulnerable persons and groups without discrimination,” he added.