EXECUTION OF A NIGERIAN IN
SINGAPORE, HEARTBREAKING--- ABIKE DABIRI-EREWA
ABUJA: NOV. 17, 2016: The
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Hon.
Abike Dabiri-Erewa has described the sentencing to death of a Nigerian in
Singapore on Friday for drug related offences as heartbreaking despite repeated
calls for Nigerians to desist from criminal activities like drug peddling.
In a statement by her Special
Assistant on Media, Abdur-Rahman Balogun in Abuja said that since Singapore is determined to enforce its
laws as a deterrent to drug trafficking, which has reduced as a result of its
stringent capital punishment , nothing much can be done except to continue to
appeal"
"While we regret the
death sentence passed on the Nigerian, we once again appeal to Nigerians to
avoid crimes like drug trafficking with most countries especially in Asia
declaring zero tolerance for drug trafficking.", Dabiri-Erewa stated.
She reiterated her appeal to
Nigerians to avoid drug peddling in their host countries as laws of countries,
whether acceptable or not, will be difficult to influence.
A Nigerian, Chijoke Obioha was caught in
Singapore trafficking in hard drugs on April 9, 2007, with his execution slated
for Friday Nov. 18.
Obioha was arrested with more
than 2.6 kilograms of cannabis, surpassing the statutory amount of 500 grams
presumed as drug trafficking in Singapore.
The Amnesty International had
called on Singapore to immediately halt Friday’s planned execution of Chijoke
Stephen Obioha, a Nigerian national on death row for possession of drugs.
Obioha’s family was informed that his appeal
for clemency has been rejected.
Rafendi Djamin, Amnesty International’s
Director for South-East Asia and the Pacific, said: “The Singapore government
still has time to halt the execution of Chijoke Stephen Obioha. We are dismayed
that clemency has not been granted in his case, but remain hopeful that they
won’t carry out this cruel and irreversible punishment against a person sentenced
to the mandatory death penalty for a crime that should not even be punished by
death. “
"The death penalty is
never the solution. It will not rid Singapore of drugs. By executing people for
drug-related offences, which do not meet the threshold of most serious crimes,
Singapore is violating international law.
Under Singaporean law, when
there is a presumption of drug possession and trafficking, the burden of proof
shifts from the prosecutor to the defendant.
This violates the right to a fair trial by turning
the presumption of innocence on its head. Drug-related offences do not meet the
threshold of the “most serious crimes” to which the use of the death penalty
must be restricted under international law.
International law also
prohibits the imposition of the death penalty as a mandatory punishment and
Amnesty International opposes the use of the death penalty outright, regardless
of the crime
Signed.
Abdur-Rahman Balogun
S.A. Media to Hon. Abike
Dabiri-Erewa
