After 8years on death row, Nigerian national, Chijioke Obioha executed in Singapore for drug trafficking
Despite frantic attempts to halt his execution, a Nigerian national, Chijioke Obioha who was found in possession of more than 2.6 kilogrammes of cannabis in April 2007, has been killed in Singapore early Friday.
An Amnesty International body had taken a charge against the Singapore government on behalf of Obioha, upon being condemned to death by hanging during his trial in 2008.
The group’s claim, was that the death penalty as a punishment for drug possession was too extreme.
State execution Rafendi Djamin, Amnesty International’s Director for South-East Asia and the Pacific, in a last-minute attempt to save the condemned Nigerian, had hoped that the Singapore government would “halt the execution of Chijoke Stephen Obioha.”
He stated his dismay at the government for not granting clemency in the case, but expressed optimism “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.”
Despite all of the Amnesty International body’s efforts, Obiora was executed around 12am Friday after he had spent almost 8 years on death row and more than 9 years behind bars.
A member of the Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign identified as Mr Ravi, announced that the execution had taken place via his Facebook.
“This morning, at 6am, the execution of Chijioke Stephen Obioha took place. I am not even sure if his family from Nigeria were able to attend. Soon it will be all forgotten together with Chijioke’s name, but for the many of us who fight and campaign to eradicate this barbaric practice of death by hanging, and for those of us who challenge the mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking in Singapore, our work will go on. And it must,” he shared.
In another update, Ravi said he was “currently arranging with the Roman Catholic Prison Ministry ( RCPM) to claim the body of Chijioke from the Singapore Prisons Service for a proper funeral in accordance with his religious beliefs. The funeral will take place either today or tomorrow depending on how soon the SPS could release the body.”
The Amnesty International’s fight against the Singapore government continues, with the body claiming that executing drug traffickers in the country will not rid it of drugs.
“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. “Most of the world has turned its back on this ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. It is about time that Singapore does the same, starting by restoring a moratorium on all executions as a first step towards abolition of this punishment,” Djamin said.
