Three exonerated death row inmates were presented at the recent opening of Legal Defence and Assistance Project’s (LEDAP) purpose-built office in Lekki Phase 1, Lagos. Williams Owodo, Christopher Okolie and Sopuchi Obed were victims of torture and human rights violation, whose death sentences have been upturned after over a decade on appeal filed by LEDAP.
The group, which is one of the leading voices in Nigeria on the abolition of the death penalty, also launched its #StopDeathPenaltyNow campaign in collaboration with the Nigerian Death Penalty Group. Interestingly, nearly seven out of every 10 death penalty appeals handled by LEDAP in the last two years have resulted in the acquittal of the appellants, suggesting a very high rate of wrongful capital convictions.
Owodo, who was juvenile at the time of the alleged offence, was discharged and acquitted of the charges against him after 17 years on death row, following an appeal by LEDAP on his behalf. Sopurichi Obed, another exonerated juvenile, was barely 17 years old when he was arrested on September 30, 2004, on allegations by the Police at Igando Police Station, Lagos, that he was part of a group of men seen by a police informant spending lavishly at a bar boating of unlawful escapades. No robbery was confirmed, yet they were arrested, charged and eventually convicted. He was finally acquitted and released by the Appeal Court, Lagos, on February 2014, after a decade on death row.
Speaking at the occasion, the national coordinator, of LEDAP, Chino Obiagwu, warned against the dangers of death penalty. He said: “Death sentence does not deter criminality. Severity or harshness of the punishment is not a solution to crime. What deters potential criminals is not the extreme sentence for the offence, but the possibility of being caught and prosecuted. In Nigeria, the possibility of arrest and prosecution when crime is committed is nearly less than 10 percent. With a population of over 170 million and crime victimisation rate of nearly 920 out of every 100,000 per year, Nigeria still has a prison population (remand and convicted) of fewer than 75,000. This means that most crimes are unresolved, and most criminals are not arrested and unpunished.”
He called on the Nigerian government to reconsider its stance on capital punishment by abolishing the use of death penalty and replacing same, with life imprisonment.
“We call on Nigeria’s National Assembly, and States Houses of Assembly to review their Criminal Code and the Penal Code laws to replace the punishment of death sentences with life imprisonment or other term of years. Such alternative humane punishments are the universally accepted norm, and Nigeria must join other democracies to say ‘yes to life’ and ‘no to State murder’. When the government kills, it motivates citizens to belittle life and to wrongly pursue revenge as justice,” Obiagwu said.
LEDAP, whose Advocacy on the Administration of Criminal Justice Law, has been highly commended, won the prestigious MacAthur Foundation award for creative and innovative institution with a cash prize of $500, 000 .00 with which it set up office and training facilities in Abuja.
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This new purpose-built office in Lagos is a milestone that affirms the group’s continued commitment to protection and promotion of human rights, the rule of law and good governance in Nigeria.
According to the LEDAP’s national coordinator, the group has for the past 18 years, worked in the areas of access to justice; rule of law; human security; women’s right; international advocacy and rights of persons living with disabilities. He however noted that the lack of rehabilitation process was also a major issue in the increasing number of crime and criminals In Nigeria, as ex-convicts returned to their old cronies and old ways when they get out of jail and find that they were not accepted back into the society.
LEDAP’s access to justice and human security programmes is geared towards providing free legal services to indigent prisoners. LEDAP has provided free legal support to over 100 death row inmates in Nigeria. The organisation pioneered the Domestic Violence Law, which is today the key instrument for the protection of women and children from gender-based violence, the administration of criminal justice law as well as being a licensed service provider to the Nigerian Bar Association on mandatory continuing legal education.
A non-governmental organisation of lawyers and Law professional, LEDAP, is engaged in the promotion and protection of human rights, the rule of law and good governance in Nigeria. Set up in 1997, the organisation provides free legal representation to poor and vulnerable victims of human rights violations, and currently has observer’ status with the Africa commission on human and peoples’ Rights. It is also the head of advocacy team of the Nigeria Coalition on the International Criminal Court. It is an organisation member of International Association of Prosecutors (IAP). LEDAP is the head of Nigeria Coalition against Violence in Elections (CAVE), and manages the “Blue Ribbon – Network of men against domestic violence. It has a close working relationship with Amnesty International, Law Society of England and Wales, Swedish NGO Foundation for Human Rights, British Council, among other organisations.
Theodora Kio-Lawson
