Over 3,500 Nigerians await execution as human rights advocates and diplomats call on the Federal Government to abolish the death penalty and adopt a moratorium on executions.
Over 3,500 Nigerians are currently on death row as human rights advocates, legal experts, and foreign diplomats renewed calls for Nigeria to abolish the death penalty.
The appeal was made in Abuja during an event marking the 2025 International Day Against the Death Penalty, organised by Avocats Sans Frontières (ASF) France in collaboration with the German Embassy and the Australian High Commission.
ASF France Country Director, Angela Uzoma-Iwuchukwu, noted Nigeria’s progress, saying the country had gone nine years without executions, with the last recorded in 2016. “The immediate next phase is a moratorium on the death penalty,” she said, adding that the punishment “protects no one and is used disproportionately against the most vulnerable.”
German Ambassador to Nigeria, Annett Günther, reaffirmed her country’s opposition to capital punishment, noting that “globally over 20,000 individuals are currently on death row, including 3,500 Nigerians.”
Australia’s Chargé d’Affaires, Neil Sanderson, described the death penalty as “cruel, inhumane and ineffective,” urging Nigeria to join global efforts toward abolition.
Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, Tony Ojukwu, stressed that the irreversible nature of the death penalty endangers justice, while the Nigerian Bar Association warned that “courts can make mistakes, and the death penalty leaves no room for second chances.”