Connect with us

News

AFS ADVOCATES FOR GENDER PERSPECTIVES IN THE USE OF THE DEATH PENALTY IN NIGERIA

Published

on

AFS ADVOCATES FOR GENDER PERSPECTIVES IN THE USE OF THE DEATH PENALTY IN NIGERIA

By: Michael Mike

An international non-governmental organisation, Avocats Sans Frontieres (ASF) France has revealed that no fewer than 82 female Nigerians are currently on death row in various correctional centres across the country even as it advocated for gender perspective in application of death penalty.

The advocacy was made at the two-day workshop organised by ASF to champion the course of the female inmates who are on death row as the World Women’s Rights Organisation celebrates in Abuja the 16 Days Advocacy on Gender Based Violence.

At the workshop themed: “Capacity-building Session on Mainstreaming Gender Perspective in the Use of the Death Penalty” the Country Director, ASF France in Nigeria, Angela Uzoma-Iwuchukwu said the statistics showed that the situation in Nigeria is the highest in sub-Saharan Africa, with those on death row somehow neglected and forgotted.

Uzoma-Iwuchukwu further said: “We strongly believe that these women, who have often been neglected, forgotten, because they are behind bars and on death row need a voice, we have decided to raise their voices and their peculiar circumstances.

“And this is because there are gender issues around the application of the capital punishment. It is often projected as being neutral, but the death penalty is not neutral.

“There are gender biases all across the criminal justice system, starting from the point of arrest, conviction and even incarceration of women who are facing the death penalty,” she said.

She added that “a lot of these women are victims of domestic violence who often when they react and it leads to maybe homicide cases, the criminal justice system fails to recognise them as victims as they go through the justice system.”

She went on to say, what we see in practice in Nigeria is that women are subjected to further brutality and gender biases within the set-up.

She said: “And we argue that these women are in fact convicted and tried for more than their crimes.

“They are tried for more than the crimes that they have committed. They are tried for being women who dared to commit crimes.

“And this is the gender bias, some of the gender bias that we see. There are several other issues that pertain to women and we see that they are not in any way taken into account.

“Now a lot of these women, we see issues around poverty, cross-cutting issues around poverty and how this affects women.”

In the same vein, the Founder and Chief Facilitator, Edeika Trauma Care Centre and Equity Advocates, Mrs. Ene Ede, emphatically kicked against Death Penalty in all forms. She believed life is sacred.

She said: “Anything that has to do with taking life is of utmost important to God, to humanity, to nature and to our country because, it is about deflection of human resources, it is about grieving, it is about injustice because most of the time you find element of injustice embedded in this life sentencing. So it is very problematic. If we look at it with another eye, the better for us. It is not something we should be in hurry to do.

“Therefore, it will be better to abolish death penalty in Nigeria. That is not to say we want to encourage criminality, even with the law in place there is escalation of criminality. We need to look at the justice system again with human eye, with empathy, with patriotism, because it is citizens and human beings they are dealing with and not animals”

Ene said life is too delicate to be toy with, adding that we should look at the area of the law that makes us vulnerable, that the level of its vulnerabilities is too high.

AFS ADVOCATES FOR GENDER PERSPECTIVES IN THE USE OF THE DEATH PENALTY IN NIGERIA

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

News

VP Shettima Mourns Borno Terror Attack Victims, Says No Religion Endorses Killing Of Innocent Lives

Published

on

VP Shettima Mourns Borno Terror Attack Victims, Says No Religion Endorses Killing Of Innocent Lives

By: Our Reporter

Ahead of his trip to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, Vice President Kashim Shettima , has expressed grief over the death of 25 persons killed in the multiple explosions in different locations across Maiduguri, the Borno State capital on Monday.

He pointed out that no religion sanctions the killing of innocent lives, as the sanctity of human life remains a core tenet of major world faiths.

VP Shettima, who spoke on Tuesday during the closing of the Annual Ramadan Tafsir at the State House Mosque, Abuja, prayed Almighty Allah to grant the souls of those killed in the terror attack in Maiduguri eternal rest, reward them with Aljannah firdaus and give their family the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

Praying Almighty Allah to also vanish all agents of terror from the surface of the earth, the VP said, “May the lives of innocent souls – 25 of them – that lost their lives in Maiduguri last evening rest in peace. May Allah grant their souls eternal rest and reward them with His Aljannah firdaus, and may Allah also grant their families the fortitude to bear the irreparable losses.

“May Allah bring this madness to an end. No religion sanctions the killing of the innocent. Whatever that is motivating them, may Allah either guide them on to the right path or May Allah vanish them from the surface of the earth.”

The Vice President emphasised the need for all Nigerians to continue to pray for the country across every sector, as well as pray that the Almighty should continue to grant President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and members of his team wisdom, courage, sincerity and equity in service.

He noted that each season of Ramadan reminds Muslims of a truth that power often tries to hide from man, and that no sit is permanent, just as no office is ultimate and no human being stands above his dependence on his creator.

VP Shettima said, “In the presence of Allah, the distance between the mighty and the unknown vanishes. What remains is character, what remains is accountability, what remains is what we did with the trust placed in our hands.

“This is why gatherings such as this matters. They rescue public lives from arrogance; they retain soul to scale; they teach those entrusted with authority that the nation is not built by policy alone but by conscience; not by proclamation alone but by restraint; not by ambition alone but by fear of Allah.”

The VP called on the Muslim faithful to continue to live in the teachings and lessons of the month of Ramadan, as the final days of Ramadan begins to sleep through their fingers.

“The question before us is not whether Ramadan is ending. The question is whether its teachings will continue to live in us after the moon has changed.

“It is quite easy to cut the head when the atmosphere is charged with devotion. The harder task is to carry it into ordinary days, into the market, into the office, into the home, into the chamber of power, and into the private corners where only Allah sees what we are doing, ” he noted.

While drawing from the lessons of Ramadan, the Vice President said the holy month had thought the Muslim faithful that pity without mercy is noise and worship without service is incomplete.

“So, as we close this year’s Tafsir, let us not return to the habits that weaken our common lives; let us not go back to bitterness, to reckless speech, to indifference dressed as sophistication. A believer doesn’t spend the whole month learning only to become a captive again of anger, greed and division.

“Nigeria needs homes where children encounter good examples before good advice. Nigeria, indeed, needs leaders in every spare who understand that influence is a trust, not a license, ” VP Shettima said.

He paid growing tribute to the Chief Imam of the State House Mosque, Sheikh Abdulwaheed Suleiman Abubakar, and his lieutenant for conducting the Tafsir with wisdom, calm hearts.

Earlier, the Chief Imam prayed for sustainable peace and development of Nigerian and the success of the Tinubu administration’s policies and programmes.

The cleric emphasised the need for leaders at all levels to continue to discharge their responsibilities with the fear of Allah for the process and development of the country.

VP Shettima Mourns Borno Terror Attack Victims, Says No Religion Endorses Killing Of Innocent Lives

Continue Reading

News

IGP Visits Maiduguri Bombing Sites, Assesses Security Measures

Published

on

IGP Visits Maiduguri Bombing Sites, Assesses Security Measures

By: Zagazola Makama

The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Rilwan Disu, has visited victims of the recent IED explosions in Maiduguri and assessed the security situation at key attack sites, underscoring the force’s commitment to public safety.

The IGP visited the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), where casualties of the bomb blasts are receiving medical attention. He commiserated with victims and their families, assuring them of the Nigeria Police Force’s resolve to identify and dismantle networks responsible for the attacks.

Following the hospital visit, he proceeded to the Maiduguri Monday Market, one of the sites targeted by the terrorists, for an on-the-spot security assessment. The visit included interactions with local security personnel to review operational preparedness and strengthen coordinated response measures.

The IGP also visited the Borno State Government House and the State Police Command Headquarters as part of ongoing engagements to enhance collaboration between federal and state security agencies.

He emphasized that security has been significantly tightened across Maiduguri and its environs, with increased patrols, surveillance, and joint operational deployments aimed at preventing further incidents. Residents were reassured of the force’s commitment to safeguarding lives and property in the aftermath of the attacks.

IGP Visits Maiduguri Bombing Sites, Assesses Security Measures

Continue Reading

News

Save us From Heavy Trailers Killing Our People… Muna Garage Residents Cry Out to Zulum

Published

on

Save us From Heavy Trailers Killing Our People… Muna Garage Residents Cry Out to Zulum

By: Bodunrin Kayode

Residents of Muna axis after customs area in Maiduguri have called on Governor Babagana Zulum to save them from the excesses of heavy duty vehicles who deliberately clog the international highway leading to Gamboru Ngala council area on a daily basis.

Some of the residents who spoke to this reporter after a recent crash which almost killed all the occupants of a commercial “Keke” regretted that the road traffic authorities in the state have not given this international highway the priority it deserves in terms of traffic management due to it’s prominence.

A careless trailer which was parked along the road close to the Alkome police hospital had narrowed the road for another trailer and a Keke nappe which struggled for the little space remaining all driving towards the Muna Garage area when a brush occurred and a sudden bang from the back by a third trailer which almost killed all the occupants of the keke nappe.

Some of the commuters came out alive from the crushed Keke with minor wounds while a particular man had his forefoot crushed almost hanging away from the ball of one of that very foot.

It was a bloody weekend for the commuters as blood from one of them flowed freely into the Keke and on the tarred road leading to Muna while onlookers rushed to see if anyone survived the crash.

Since no security personnel showed up within the first 30 minutes of the crash, the wounded were rushed to a nearby hospital while the trailer cleared from the road to ease traffic movement.

Most of the eye witnesses were enraged by the incident with some blaming it on the Keke riders while others castigated the trailers who insist on parking on the shoulder of this international route which should be free from these kinds of challenges.

Baana, a vulcanizer who says he has spent over three decades on this axis of the town called on Governor Babagana Zulum to as a matter of urgency build a massive modern trailer park for the heavy trucks so that they will stop parking along the road while they wait for clearance in the morning to embark on their journeys to Ngala and beyond.

“Lack of a modern trailer park is the main reason why we keep recording lingering accidents on a daily basis here with countless of people being wounded and are not recorded in the government statistics.” He stressed.

For mallam Isa, a teacher inside the suburb behind Alkome police Hospital, the Governor should as a matter of urgency sign an executive fiat to stop trailers from parking on main roads like this one leading to Mafa,Dikwa and Ngala.

” We are calling on the Governor to invoke an executive order based on section 5 of the 1999 constitution by banning all trailers from parking on the trunk A roads leading to Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

” This is because, apart from endangering the lives of commuters, prolonged stay on the tarred roads cause a lot of damage to the roads which the Governor has dualized after destruction by insurgency.”

Mallam Isa also called on Federal and State Road Safety managers in the state to create a road side emergency station along this route that would be assisting them in clearing accident victims in the road throughout the week and even during the weekend.

“look at this accident that just happened, they are all guilty of one offence or the other. But I equally blame the Keke riders because if they have respect for human lives, they will not be contesting for right of way with heavy duty trailers.

” These trailers are very wicked people. They use their big structures to block and entrap people only to be begging for mercy when the damage has been done.

” Their excesses are as grave as that of the keke napep people. The Federal Road Safety and the Borno traffic management authorities should increase their fines further to serve as deterrent on the rest.

Save us From Heavy Trailers Killing Our People… Muna Garage Residents Cry Out to Zulum

Continue Reading

Trending

Verified by MonsterInsights