By Dipo Awojobi – Not less than 153 Nigerians are presently awaiting execution for their involvement in illicit drug trade in Malaysia and China.
This was revealed on Tuesday during the plenary session of the Senate.
The Senators described the development as an embarrassment to the country.
They said the developed needed to be curtailed by the Nigerian Government through relevant agencies.
In a motion sponsored by Senator Gbenga Ashafa (APC Lagos East) and supported by 21 others, it was revealed that the Harm Reduction International, a United Kingdom-based NGO, said 33 countries impose the death penalty for drug-related offences.
Ashafa, in the motion titled: “Nigerians’ involvement in illicit global drugs trade and increase in domestic drug abuse by Nigerian youth,” raised the alarm that many Nigerians are currently on death row in different countries of the world for their involvement in illicit drugs, which attracts capital punishment in those countries.
According to him, not less 153 Nigerians are presently on the death rows in Malaysia and China alone for offences bordering on illicit drugs trafficking.
He chronicled the ugly development further by saying: “Apart from the cases of Malaysia and Indonesia, at least one Nigerian is on the death row in Singapore for drug-related offences.
“Two Nigerians were executed in China in April 2015, but 120 other Nigerians are still on the death row for drug-related offences, with 74 of them being held in Guandong and Guanxi Provinces.
“Four out of 11 Nigerians were executed in April 2015 by Indonesia despite pleas for leniency by Nigeria, the United Nations and Amnesty International.”
Senator Ashafa expressed worry that in spite of the execution, some desperate Nigerians were not deterred, adding: “The case for leniency was rendered impotent because at that point, seven fresh cases of drug trafficking involving Nigerians had just emerged in Indonesia.”
