Nigeria: Should the Death Penalty be Put on Death Row?

The country's largest human rights group, the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), has been clamouring for the death penalty to be abolished for several years. Chuma Ubani, who heads the group, says this is essential to prevent further miscarriages of justice. "One of the arguments we have against the death penalty is that once the punishment is inflicted, it is final. Even if at the end of the day it is found that it was done in error, there can be no remedy," he told IPS. After coming under pressure from European parliamentarians to do away with capital punishment, the Nigerian government has initiated a countrywide debate to gauge national opinion on this matter.