Why governors are reluctant to sign death warrants – Stakeholders

Stakeholders in the legal and political spheres of Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu States have expressed opinions on why many state governors are reluctant to sign death sentences for convicted criminals.

They gave their reasons while reacting to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) survey on “why many governors are reluctant to sign death warrants for condemned criminals”.

Some legal practitioners in Anambra have said that some state governors in Nigeria were reluctant, not because of legal barriers, but due to personal beliefs and moral restraints.

Mr Stanley Okafor, President, Leadership Orientation and Basic Rights Advocacy Centre (LOBRAC) in Awka, said the reluctance was not unique to Africa but a global concern rooted in moral considerations.

According to Okafor, while the act of signing death warrants is a political duty required of governors, many are morally restrained from carrying it out.

“Most governors are restrained and constrained morally from performing that political duty. It is more of a moral restraint than a legal phenomenon.”

He added that the psychological weight of authorising the taking of a human life often created a moral dilemma for leaders, making the decision deeply personal and ethically complex.

“This is not just a political duty, it is an issue of conscience and we need to understand the emotional and moral burden involved,” he said.

Mr Kingsley Awuka, former Chairman of Committee of Chairmen of the eight branches of the Nigeria Bar Assocation (NBA), Anambra, attributed the governors’ hesitation to religious convictions and personal beliefs.

Awuka acknowledged that it was a constitutional responsibility of governors to endorse execution orders. However, he noted that many were constrained by the sacredness they attached to human life.

“Due to the sacredness of human life, most people believe that no man has the right to take life except God,” he said.

He suggested that rather than delaying or refusing to sign death warrants, governors should consider an alternative already within their legal purview — the exercise of the prerogative of mercy.

“It is also within their powers. Instead of allowing these decisions to linger indefinitely, they could opt for clemency,” he said.

Addressing a common perception, Awuka said it is not entirely accurate to claim that governors do not sign death warrants at all.

“If we go and find out at the correctional centres, we will get the data. These executions do happen, only that they are not publicised,” he added.

He also said there was an ongoing debate among lawyers on whether the death penalty should be scrapped altogether and replaced with life imprisonment, with the hope of rehabilitation for convicts.

Another Lawyer, Mr Christian Okonkwo, explained that for most governors, the decision to authorize an execution presented a serious moral dilemma.

“Many governors refuse to sign death warrants not necessarily because they question the legality of the conviction, but because of the fear that the convict’s blood will be on their hands.

“There is a deep moral concern about being directly responsible for taking a life,” he said.

He further emphasised that unlike judges, who are trained in legal interpretation and were mandated to issue death sentences within the framework of the law, governors often lack the judicial training required to make such grave decisions.

“Their background is usually political, not legal.

“So while the law grants them the power to approve executions, many find it difficult to carry out due to the emotional and ethical weight involved,” Okonkwo said.

In Enugu, Mr Ikechukwu Ezenwukwa, the Director of Civil Litigations, Enugu State Ministry of Justice, said the signing of death warrant for condemned criminals was the prerogative of governors of various states in Nigeria.

He said he was not aware if the governor of the state had been signing death warrants, stressing that the state had a council for the prerogative of mercy whose job was to ensure there were no congestion of correctional centres.

Ezenwukwa said the council recommended inmates to be granted pardon to governor, adding that if the governor saw that the recommendation was worthy, he would leverage on it.

According to him, some people are calling for an end to capital punishment and advocating for governors to use their power to move death sentence to life imprisonment.

“Part of the council’s job is to look at the condemned inmates condition to see whether some of them will be commuted from death penalty to lesser penalty.

“Maybe using their years of imprisonment or allowing them to go, depending on certain circumstance such as ill health, being reformed or age.

“There are still an opportunity for the governor to commute some of them from death penalty to either life or even lesser offence.

“In terms of imprisonment, we made recommendations for some of them to be commuted from death penalty to life imprisonment in 2024.

“We are doing another one right now which if Gov. Peter Mbah approves by Oct. 1, some of them may be commuted to life imprisonment,” he said.

He disclosed that when some of them overstayed in the correctional centre, they become landlords and begin to commit other crimes from that centre.

“When you trace some of these telephone scammers, most of them are from the condemned inmates because they know they are condemned and fears no more, except to condemn him for second time.

“Some of them have 10 new cases and the governor can look at them and then still do something about it,” he explained.

A Lawyer, Mr Busaosowo Bisong, said there were many issues responsible for governor’s refusal to sign death warrant for condemned criminals, citing cultural issues and the way society perceived it.

He said nobody could compel governors to sign the execution but something that he had to do himself, saying that “when he does it, some Nigerians would develop pity or condemned the act”.

Bisong added that if the governors signed it, it would help to reduce congestions at the various correctional facilities.

On why governors cannot act, Bisong said, “If there is a court judgment, the victim may want to appeal. So, once they go to appeal, it is natural that the case or the execution will be turned down until the upper court finishes to hear the appeal.

“And sometimes, the appeal may take years as the people would continue to appeal until you get to the Supreme Court.

“But if the governor must perform his constitutional duty, I advise that they do it within the bounds of the law and ensuring that justice is done,” he advised.

Stakeholders in Ebonyi have insisted that governors reserve the final discretion on signing death warrants of convicted persons.

The stakeholders interviewed by NAN said that whether to sign the death penalty or not, rests squarely on the governors.

Mr Marcel Akanabe, Head of the Legal Aid Council in Ebonyi, said that one might not know the reasons most governors did not sign death warrants.

“No matter how one tries, ascertaining a governor’s mind on signing death penalities is difficult.

“This is more complex because they seldom discuss such issue in public.

“They keep such issues at heart and keep everyone even the convicts, guessing.

“The issue, no matter the governors’ aversions, remains constitutional which they are bound to abide to,” he said.

Supporting Akanabe’s assertion, a Staff of the Ebonyi Ministry of Justice who pleaded anonymity, said that most governors see the matter as a trap which they should steer clear from.

“During one of the state judiciary’s past legal week celebration, a former governor shifted the reluctance to sign the death warrants to judges.

“The former governor queried why judges would convict people and shift the signing of the death warrants to governors.

“He said it should have been proper for judges who made the convictions to also sign the death warrants,” he said.

Mrs Betty Aloh, a Human Rights Activist, said such situation had contributed greatly to custodial centre congestions across the country.

“When people are sentenced to death, they remain in custody, possibly awaiting execution.

“The governor mostly feel reluctant to sign the death warrants and leave more convicted persons occupying scarce spaces inside custodial centres.

“This ultimately results to custodial congestions that seem to defy all solutions to stem,” he said.

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