No fewer than 1,138 condemned prisoners are presently on the death row in the country, National Mirror investigations have showed.
National Mirror gathered that of this figure, 1,119 convicts are males while 19 are females as at April 30, this year.
Statistics obtained from the Nigerian Prisons Service, NPS, also revealed that the 145 prisons in the country had a total capacity to accommodate 47, 284 prisoners, but the inmate population as at that date is 53,816.
A breakdown of this figure showed that the males have a total inmate population of 52,707 while the females are 1,109.
The statistics also indicated that the total number of Awaiting Trial Persons, ATPs, is 37,429 out of which 36,540 inmates are males and 889 females.
The figure of convicted persons was put at 16,387, comprising 16,167 males and 220 female convicts.
A further breakdown of the number of the convicts revealed that apart from those on the death row, 465 males and eight females are serving life sentences.
About 6,967 males are on long term sentence with only 114 females serving same, bringing the total figure to 7,081. It was also learnt that 7,616 convicts are serving short term sentences. Of this figure, 7,616 are males while 79 are females.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, SAN, had on June 27 said the governors were statutory bound to sign death warrants of condemned criminals sentenced to death by courts of competent jurisdiction.
The minister's insistence came on the heels of mounting criticisms of President Goodluck Jonathan's directive mandating governors to sign death warrants pending on their desks.
In the forefront of the criticisms were some Senior Advocates of Nigeria, including Prof. Itse Sagay, who said that the President lacked the power to compel the governors to sign execution warrants of condemned criminals. Just last week, four death row inmates were hanged in Benin, Edo State, after their execution warrants were signed by Governor Adams Oshiomhole.
The inmates included Osaremwinda Aigbuohian and Daniel Nsofor, whose lawyers had been struggling to obtain a stay of execution on the death sentence; and two other convicts whose identities were yet to be ascertained.
Idahagbon said that the defence team of the death row inmates, led by a civil society group, LEDAP, had tried up till the last minute to stop the hanging but did not succeed.
Three of the inmates were convicted outside Edo State. Idahagbon said that the executed inmates had been issued the death penalty several years ago.
Under the Nigerian Criminal Code, Chapter 77, Laws of Federation of Nigeria 1990, the offences which attract death penalty include murder, treason and armed robbery.
Specifically, Section 37(1) and 37 (2) states that "any person who levies war against the State in order to intimidate or overawe the President or governor of a state, or who conspires with any is guilty of treason, and is liable to the punishment of death."
Section 38 of the Criminal Code provides that "any person who instigates any foreigner to invade Nigeria with an armed force is guilty of treason and is liable to the punishment of death.
By section 49 (1) "any person who commits treachery or treacherous act by giving assistance to the naval, air force, or military operations of the enemy is liable upon conviction to death.
Similarly, section 315 and 319 of the code states that any person who unlawfully kills another is guilty of murder and shall be sentenced to death.
The criminal law also frowns at stealing with violence or armed robbery as section 401 and 402 provides that the offender shall upon conviction be sentenced to death.
Outside the shores of the country, some Nigerians, according to sources, have been extra-judicially executed in Indonesia in recent years.
It was also widely reported sometimes ago that the authorities in Saudi Arabia were set to execute a Nigerian, Sulaimon Olufemi, 28, who was convicted and sentenced to death in connection with the murder of a policeman in Jeddah in 2002.
The convict was reportedly sentenced to death at a closed trial in May 2005. Shortly after the death sentence against Olufemi was upheld by the Court of Cassation and ratified by the Supreme Judicial Council, the Saudi Arabian Human Rights Commission and the Amnesty International expressed the fear that the convict could be executed at any time.
Meanwhile, the Primate, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, yesterday decried the criticism trailing the execution of the death sentence in Benin. He told the Federal Government not to allow itself to be gagged by anybody.
The Primate, who spoke at a press conference in Abuja, noted that Amnesty International had no justification to criticise the government's action, stressing that they were not directly or indirectly affected by the action of those inmates.
He warned that the government should not allow anybody or organisation to teach it what morality was all about, insisting that "the law of capital punishment for those who rightly deserve should be enforced."
Painting a scenario, where a victim of armed robbery was brutalised, raped and finally killed by the gang, the primate asked: "Now where is the human rights of this woman? Meanwhile, the armed robbers involved in that had been executed, and the people are crying for the human rights of the armed robbers! "The Federal Government should not allow people to teach it moral in our society.
If somebody could afford to kill 79 people and they just sentenced him to 14 years imprisonment, if they think that is acceptable to them, it is okay, but here I think is not okay. "So, for me, anybody who has degenerated to that level of depravity deserves capital punishment and it should be enforced.
"It is not true to say that punishment does not deter crime, it does. One of the differences between society here and society outside is that we have so many laws, which are not enforced.
If you see Nigerians outside, they obey laws, but as soon as they come back here, they feel above the law; if they do anything contrary to the law and the people approach them, they will say 'do you know who I am?'
"So, punishment must be effected and that is the essence of government, the Bible supported it and the government cannot abdicate from punishing crime in the name of Amnesty International or whatever." Okoh added that insecurity persists in the country because politicians were playing politics with it.
"We must not play politics with our security. It is never done anywhere in the world. We need to ensure that our security is good and well-organised, then, we will have time for other things." Also yesterday, the Edo State chapter of the Coalition of Registered Political Parties, CRPP, commended Oshiomhole, for signing the death warrants of four convicted criminals last week.
The group said the action would serve as deterrent to rising crime rate. Replying the critics, the CRPP described as "unjustified" the criticisms against the signing of the death warrants by the governor.
In a press statement issued by Edo State CRPP Chairman and National Secretary of Accord Party, Dr. Samson Isibor, the group expressed satisfaction with the execution, insisting that the state governor only exercised the powers conferred on him by the Constitution of the Federal Republic.
Isibor said: "Those that are opposed to the signing of the death warrants are enemies of Edo State who want criminals to swallow up the state.
"These human rights organisations and illmotivated critics are not sincere because the nature of the crimes that was committed by the convicts deserved no sympathy from any responsible government or organisation.
"These self-styled activists merely play to the gallery in the bid to justify the huge funds they fraudulently collect from unsuspecting foreign donors under the guise of fighting injustice, human rights breach and bad governance
