German Ambassador to Nigeria, Annett Günther, has given kudos to President Bola Tinubu for commuting some death sentences to lifelong imprisonment.
Ambassador Günther spoke at a joint film screening with the Australian High Commission and Avocats sans Frontières France on the International Day against the Death Penalty.
The movie ‘Just Mercy’ is a true-life story about Bryan Stevenson, a young Black lawyer and Harvard graduate who defended wrongly convicted persons in Alabama or those too poor to afford legal representation.
The German Ambassador said, “The death penalty violates human dignity. Time to end it for good!”
She noted that Germany had abolished the death penalty many years ago and would continue to advocate for its abolition worldwide.
Ambassador Günther revealed that globally, over 20,000 persons are currently on death row, awaiting execution, and about 3,500 of them are Nigerians.
Stakeholders at the event urged the federal government to end the death penalty by issuing a moratorium that grants an official suspension of execution while the death penalty laws are reviewed.
President Tinubu recently granted clemency to 82 inmates and reduced the prison terms of 65 others. Seven death sentences were also commuted to life imprisonments.
