The Federal Government is ready to defend the recent execution of four convicts in Edo State, which ended a seven-year moratorium on death penalty in the country, an official has said.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Olugbenga Ashiru, gave the indication in Abuja on Friday at a Consultative Forum on the forthcoming review of human rights in Nigeria under the United Nations Universal Period Review (UPR).
Ashiru acknowledged that executions in Edo would likely come up when the country appears before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva this October for a periodic review of its human rights.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that the June 24 executions in Edo State had been criticised by the United Kingdom Government, UN and the European Union High Representative, Catherine Ashton.
According to the top EU diplomat, the execution negates recent commitment repeatedly made by Nigerian officials, most recently in May, to maintain the de facto moratorium on executions.
Ashiru told reporters that the executions would not act as an impediment to “’tremendous improvements” by government on human rights issues in the country.
He reminded countries accusing Nigeria of human rights violations to remember that the criminal code was inherited from the ‘colonial powers.
He noted that in Nigeria, state governments are autonomous and for the executions in Edo, Governor Adams Oshiomhole acted within the confines of the law.
