Those on death row upon the judgment of the court of Lagos State included the General-Overseer of the Christian Praying Assembly, Chukwuemeka Ezeugo, a.k.a Rev. King.
Falana argued in his letter dated April 19, 2017, and addressed to Governor Ambode that the planned execution of death row inmates in the state would violate a subsisting judgment delivered in 2012 by the High Court of Lagos State which ruled that it was illegal and unconstitutional to execute the condemned inmates.
He reminded the governor that the judgment of the court of the state had held that to hang or subject the death row inmates to firing squad would lead to the violation of their fundamental right to freedom from torture guaranteed by the Constitution.
The judgment was said to have been delivered by Justice Mufutau Olokooba of the Lagos State High Court on June 29, 2012.
The Lagos lawyer advised the state government to explore the only available option of commuting the death penalty passed on the inmates to life imprisonment.
Falana stated, “On the basis of the valid and subsisting judgment of the Lagos High Court on the illegality of the execution of the death penalty in Lagos State we urge Your Excellency not to sign a death warrant authorising the killing of any condemned prisoner either by hanging, firing squad or any other means whatsoever.
“In the circumstance, Your Excellency may wish to commute the death sentences of all condemned prisoners in Lagos State to life imprisonment forthwith.”
The Attorney-General of the state, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, was said to have stated at a press conference on Tuesday that unlike previous administrations, Governor Ambode would sign the necessary documents to execute those on death row in the state.
Kazeem reportedly said the development was at the instruction of Governor Ambode and that the state had begun reviewing the matter after prison officials complained of the highhandedness of some death row inmates who felt that they had certain rights which excluded them from being executed.
But Falana stated that the planned execution would negate the subsisting the court judgment.
Falana stated, “Although many persons have been convicted for armed robbery and murder and sentenced to death by the Lagos State High Court since 1999 your predecessors did not sign death warrants for the execution of any person on death row.
“Accordingly, all the convicts on death row have had the death sentences imposed on them commuted to life imprisonment.
“It is pertinent to draw the attention of Your Excellency to the case of Ajulu & Ors. V. Attorney-General of Lagos State (unreported) Suit No: ID/76M/2008 of 29thJune 2012 wherein the Lagos State High Court held that while a person who commits murder may be sentenced to death it is illegal and unconstitutional to execute such death sentence by hanging or firing squad as it will lead to the violation of his fundamental right to freedom from torture guaranteed by the Constitution. According to the learned trial judge, Olokooba J:
“…death by hanging and firing squad amounts to a violation of the condemned’s right to dignity of the human person and amount to inhuman and degrading treatment is consequently unconstitutional being violative of section 34(1)(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.
Falana argued in his letter dated April 19, 2017, and addressed to Governor Ambode that the planned execution of death row inmates in the state would violate a subsisting judgment delivered in 2012 by the High Court of Lagos State which ruled that it was illegal and unconstitutional to execute the condemned inmates.
He reminded the governor that the judgment of the court of the state had held that to hang or subject the death row inmates to firing squad would lead to the violation of their fundamental right to freedom from torture guaranteed by the Constitution.
The judgment was said to have been delivered by Justice Mufutau Olokooba of the Lagos State High Court on June 29, 2012.
The Lagos lawyer advised the state government to explore the only available option of commuting the death penalty passed on the inmates to life imprisonment.
Falana stated, “On the basis of the valid and subsisting judgment of the Lagos High Court on the illegality of the execution of the death penalty in Lagos State we urge Your Excellency not to sign a death warrant authorising the killing of any condemned prisoner either by hanging, firing squad or any other means whatsoever.
“In the circumstance, Your Excellency may wish to commute the death sentences of all condemned prisoners in Lagos State to life imprisonment forthwith.”
The Attorney-General of the state, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, was said to have stated at a press conference on Tuesday that unlike previous administrations, Governor Ambode would sign the necessary documents to execute those on death row in the state.
Kazeem reportedly said the development was at the instruction of Governor Ambode and that the state had begun reviewing the matter after prison officials complained of the highhandedness of some death row inmates who felt that they had certain rights which excluded them from being executed.
But Falana stated that the planned execution would negate the subsisting the court judgment.
Falana stated, “Although many persons have been convicted for armed robbery and murder and sentenced to death by the Lagos State High Court since 1999 your predecessors did not sign death warrants for the execution of any person on death row.
“Accordingly, all the convicts on death row have had the death sentences imposed on them commuted to life imprisonment.
“It is pertinent to draw the attention of Your Excellency to the case of Ajulu & Ors. V. Attorney-General of Lagos State (unreported) Suit No: ID/76M/2008 of 29thJune 2012 wherein the Lagos State High Court held that while a person who commits murder may be sentenced to death it is illegal and unconstitutional to execute such death sentence by hanging or firing squad as it will lead to the violation of his fundamental right to freedom from torture guaranteed by the Constitution. According to the learned trial judge, Olokooba J:
“…death by hanging and firing squad amounts to a violation of the condemned’s right to dignity of the human person and amount to inhuman and degrading treatment is consequently unconstitutional being violative of section 34(1)(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.
Section 367 of the Criminal Procedure Law of Lagos State and any other Law which provides for hanging and condemned by the neck till he be dead are accordingly declared unconstitutional. Section 1(3) of the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act in so far as it seeks to be implemented by the Respondent it is also declared unconstitutional and void.”
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*WOW...So what punishment is good for him..can they send him to jail for life?
Falana must be a joker of the century
ReplyDeleteDid I hear him said hanging him means violation of his fundamental human right? What about him that roasted his church member like argungun fish? If Lagos state govt listened to this joker of a lawyer its means international criminal court will step in. They've been delaying the execution of rev king for damn too Long. I know his foolish members have been running helter skelter bribing all and sundry but their plans has failed. He must experience torture and painful death too.
Magana banza.
He set them ablaze oh. I don't think such a person even has rights since he has been found guilty.
DeleteEveryone has a right to life, its a total inalienable right that cannot be contested or negotiated. Because some states in the US allow it does not make it right. Your punishment for taking a life is to be imprisoned, no one has a right to take anothers
DeleteChai, and you put intelligence as part of your name.
DeleteMagana banza ba kadan ba. Shegu!
DeleteThere's no absolute fundamental right, the state can restrict or violate a persons right if a situation calls for it, you've got right to freedom of speech until you spew hate. The right to life, liberty and security of person can also be deprived if it's in accordance with fundamental justice. He's been tried and sentenced and at the moment his right to liberty is restricted. I believe executing them will be unconstitutional cos its against thier right not to be subjected to unusual punishment and not because he has an absolute right. Also if the Court had ruled it unconstitutional, as a democratic country, the executive arm should conform to the courts ruling, the courts however cannot force them to, the only interprete laws and hope that the state will conform to it. I hope they don't get executed cos 2 wrongs do not make a right.
DeleteThe clause there is "torture." Here is the deal, lethal dose injection won't cause any pain. Just a simple injection and within 10 mins king is dead. The law can be interpreted in different ways.
DeleteDid I really read you call Falana a joker of a lawyer? Did you?
DeleteSo he had the right to kill pple? His own turn now has become violation of human rights.
ReplyDeleteFalana smokes osogbo weed sometimes.
If hanging and firing squad is violation of their dignity what about poisoning or injecting them to death
DeleteRubbish. They don't even have space in the prison and someone is saying life imprisonment. This is why this country will still remain backward. Even in the US they still give people the death penalty for crimes less than what reverend king did. Imagine that stupid man living like a king in prison and dealing with prison officials that has refused to do his bidding. The people he killed suffered before they died. Practically burnt them alive, what will serve as deterrent to others ,imagine how they will be jubilating because they won and there ain't no justice for the deceased.
ReplyDeleteHis followers will now triple cos they will believe his prophesy has come to pass. Someone will leave all the laws that will protect law abiding Nigerian citizens, laws against child rape and go and fight to stop govt from carrying out punishment on the people that deserved it. Why then is there death penalty when you cannot carry it out. Justice Olokooba, how much were you paid? I hope enough to bribe your way to heaven.
Falana is a dreamer. Is that his only Judicial authority? There are other decisions of Higher Courts that support death by hanging. Further, who is a High Court judge to make such lofty pronouncements when there are still Supreme Court Justices who have judgments in favour of capital punishment? Jokers!
DeleteGiving him life imprisonment means at the end of the day he might just be pardoned and allowed to walk free... Abeg they should execute him and allow us rest for the matter
DeleteIf he won't be smuggled out later,I support life imprisonment.
ReplyDeleteNo justice on earth.!
ReplyDeleteHnmmm see life! He won't be killed last last but he has sent many to the great beyond.
ReplyDeleteLord may we never be preys to the enemy cos at the end they may never get to taste the bitter pills they gave their victims.
Falana should shut up. After this man gruesomely murdered people? He should live?. Infact Falana pls ask the government to release him sef, make we kuku do jungle justice end the matter. This is one man that truly deserves jungle justice cos that was the manner in which he killed his members.
ReplyDeleteNo one should have the right to take a life, not even government
ReplyDeleteImagine after killing you discover the person is innocent, how much compensation does a human life costs?
Life imprisonment is the way forward. If the prisons are congested its because many people in prison have no business being there in the first place.
You are uninformed.
DeleteYou are uninformed.
DeleteIn other words, reverend king does not have business in d prison. U for say make dem release am since he has right to take another person's life. Radarada.
DeleteGeneral Zod that it is in the constitution does not make it right, I insist everyone has a right to life and death sentences whether by shooting, hanging or lethal injections should be abolished.
DeleteIt is human and wrong and mY opinion though may not count isn't because I'm uninformed.
Can u imagine? Later they will smuggle him out.iranu
ReplyDeleteStory story
ReplyDeleteMaybe they are planning to pardon him
ReplyDeletePolitical Bugaboo!
ReplyDeleteWelcome 2 naija!
Really! But he can violate another person 's fundamental human right? Falz, please tell your fatber, wehdonsah.
ReplyDeleteReally! But he can violate another person 's fundamental human right? Falz, please tell your fatber, wehdonsah.
ReplyDeleteWhat rubbish! What about the people he took their lives? Does it mean that by killing those people he did not also voilet their right to live? Politics should not even come in here because i know that some influential people has been behind him thus this nonsense excuse so that he would not be executed. There is no space in the prison for this animal so he should be executed fast.
ReplyDeleteEpistle.
ReplyDeleteMr Falana focus on Vuharia and the recession.
If in the process of life imprisonment they poison them, hope no one will challenge it in the COurt of Law?
With due respect to my learned senior and "silk", that line of reasoning is laughable yet offensive! If this were a blog for lawyers, his assertion would have been one of the most eligible materials for "Saturday Laughs", too juicy to wait till Sunday.
ReplyDeleteThe minute a court of competent jurisdiction convicts an accused of a capital offence like murder or armed robbery, his constitutional human rights, including right to life and dignity, freedom of movement, freedom from torture et al ceases to exist. What is even more hilarious is, the learned SAN implying that the Supreme Court should be bound by the decision of a High Court based on no legal principle but the sentiments of a renegade Judge! That is a violent rape on our criminal jurisprudence! All courts are bound by the decisions of the Supreme Court, that's the principle of Ratio decidendi and judicial precedent in case law.
The same Constitution recognises death sentences as the only legal execution. Section 33(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 states that " Every person has a right to life, and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life, save in EXECUTION OF THE SENTENCE OF A COURT IN RESPECT OF A CRIMINAL OFFENCE OF WHICH HE HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY IN NIGERIA" (emphasis mine). The Constitution is the highest law in Nigeria and it is supreme. No court, not even the Supreme Court can give any judgment which is contrary to the provisions of the Constitution. For a High court to condemn the death sentence is purely the Obiter dictum of the Hon. Judge which cannot be binding on any court, most of all, the Supreme Court.
I'm not sure what the learned SAN had in mind but this piece is actually an affront to the legal mind! Why on earth would such a brilliant lawyer write this? What he should have done is plead passionately with the Governor of Lagos State to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment, not by requirement of law but by sentiments of a "concerned citizen." I want to believe he was under the influence of something when he wrote this fallacious letter. He is way too knowledgeable and legally sound for this atrocious reasoning.
You need to relearn your laws, a prisoners right is restricted and not completely abolished. Can you also support your assertions with a statutory provision? Where does it say a convicted murderers rights cease to exist? Your submission is filled with big words but abysmal at best.
DeleteHas there been any reference to the Supreme Court with regards to the death sentence and what was the decision? the courts are interpreters of the constitution. The constitutional is a living tree and its interpretation changes with the dynamics of the society. The law is what the judge says it is, it is rationally analysed and not literally applied. "In execution" may mean in accordance to and not literally execution. Besides, prisoners rights do not cease to exist, if it does, why are they still fed? Why are there inquiries when a prisoner died in custody? Prisoners have limited rights and are entitled to it. Also adding "with due respect" before insults is not so respectful?
DeleteI followed the Rev. King's case from his arraignment till the final Judgment by the Supreme Court, because I was intrigued by the sheer audacity of the "Reverend". For those of you who are voracious readers and can get your hands on law reports, see the case of EZEUKO (Rev. King) V. STATE (2016) ALL FWLR (PT 831) PG 1529. From the High Court to the Supreme Court, the judges were appalled by his actions, and rightly so. The judges used very harsh words to condemn his gruesome and vindictive "punishment". They all upheld the death sentence and felt it should be used to check these "men of god" who assume the personality of a demi god, thinking they have the right to punish their congregants, even with death. Yet a brilliant lawyer is trying to preserve the life of a monster with no regards for the sanctity of life.
ReplyDeleteEven if the Governor wishes to commute the death sentence of all condemned criminals to life imprisonment, Rev. King should not be considered. If you read the facts of the case, your heart will bleed! His case is one of the most controversial I have read in recent times. He showed no remorse whatsoever, he is still insisting that he wasn't around at the time of the incident. He claims he was upstairs in his sitting room when a generator exploded and the deceased was engulfed in flames, in spite of the overwhelming evidence by the other 5 victims who survived his attack.
Justice Adamu Jauro of the Court of Appeal gave this remarkable aside, he said "... a religious leader, instead of protecting and guarding his followers, has turned around, brutalizing them, setting them ablaze, roasting an innocent soul to death and offering them stone when they desire bread and scorpion when they demand bread..."
Quite apt, I must say.
Dem don start again?
ReplyDeleteThat was how they confused Nigerians that Clifford Orji died while in prison but some people believe Clifford is enjoying his life now somewhere with changed identity. God will surely judge ooo. Mstechewwwwwwww
Another notable pronouncement by Justice NGWUTA of the Supreme Court. He said
ReplyDelete"...we need to be warned that the bitch that gave birth to the monster may be in heat again. Extremism in politics or religion results in disaster. When Hitler, the Australian house painter lunatic snatched power and led his Nazi party in Germany, one of his motive forces was the maintenance of the purity of the Aryan race for which he slaughtered about six million Jews and people of other races.
Here is a mere mortal being who has arrogated to himself the power and function of his Maker. To punish them for their real or perceived offences, his so-called godsons and goddaughters doused with petrol and set ablaze at the peak of his smouldering anger. He brought the hell fire from hell onto his victims. Clarence Darwin (1857-1938) would hate sin but not the sinner. The appellant, Chukwuemeka Ezeuko, alias Dr. Rev. King, in his turn would not hesitate to roast his perceived sinners in petrol fire while sparing the sin. When a man-made god, a tin god with legs of clay, leads people in whom he has installed extreme fear of the unknown, the words of God are put in abeyance and the mundane are brought to the front burner.
Not long ago, a poor follower of a particular lunatic, who claimed to be the confidant of God, was doused in petrol and set ablaze. The devil incarnate shocked the world by his claim that God instructed him to douse the woman with petrol and set her ablaze, that the resulting fire, having been deprived of its qualities would have the woman untouched. Human life, even one of a sinner is sacred to God. Religious freedom, freedom of association do not in any way derogate from the sanctity of life. Activities of these 'religious' bodies should be scrutinised before their crazy leaders embark on mass murder of their followers and lead them to mass suicide..."
Wow! Captivating words.
Going by Falana's logic, that means even imprisoning Rev king is a violation of his right to freedom of movement. The state should just free all prisoners so as not to violate their rights. Of all inmates on deathrow, Falan could only talk about Rev King. No justice for the poor man in nigeria. Wont be surprised if this human roaster is freed atlast. Just the way Al-mustapha was freed in a kurukere move by jonathan
ReplyDeleteIn Falz voice,wehdonesir.
ReplyDeleteNa waoooo
ReplyDelete