The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and foreign diplomatic missions have urged the Federal Government to abolish capital punishment, formalise a moratorium on executions and commute existing death sentences to life imprisonment.
The call was made on Friday, October 9, 2026, at the NHRC headquarters in Abuja during activities marking the International Day Against the Death Penalty, observed annually on October 10.
Avocats Sans Frontières France, the Australian High Commission, the German Embassy and the Spanish Embassy backed the appeal, citing concerns over wrongful convictions, prolonged detention and the right to life.
Representing NHRC Executive Secretary Tony Ojukwu, the commission’s Director of Legal Services and Enforcement, Rabir Anwar, called for Nigeria’s longstanding suspension of executions to be formalised.
Ojukwu said Nigeria would reach 10 consecutive years without a state execution by December 2026, but noted that more than 3,000 inmates remained on death row.
Australian High Commissioner Leilani Bin-Juda urged Nigeria to adopt a formal moratorium or restrict the offences punishable by death, describing capital punishment as cruel, inhuman and degrading.
Spain’s Ambassador, Félix Artieda, questioned the death penalty’s deterrent value and warned that its irreversible nature left no remedy for wrongful executions. Representing the German Ambassador, Lorena Mohr said executing offenders was not the answer to society’s demand for justice.
Angela Uzoma-Iwuchukwu, Country Head of Avocats Sans Frontières France, said capital punishment violated the right to life and disproportionately affected poor and vulnerable people.
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The Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Sylvester Nwakuche, represented by Comptroller Olufemi Oluyemi, said the service would continue treating inmates humanely while respecting the law and recognising victims’ suffering.
The event, themed “Stories for Life: The Human Cost of Capital Punishment,” featured Amanda Arthur, daughter of death row survivor Angel Arthur. Her father was imprisoned at 21 and spent 16 years in custody before being removed from the execution list. He maintained that he had been wrongfully imprisoned.
Amanda said the ordeal left lasting trauma and exposed the family to social stigma. She described the death penalty as dehumanising, regardless of a defendant’s guilt.
Nigeria retains capital punishment in law, although its last known execution took place in 2016. The NHRC made a similar call in October 2018, urging the government to consider commuting death sentences to life imprisonment and adopting an official moratorium.
Amnesty International reported that 145 countries had abolished the death penalty in law or practice by the end of 2025, including 113 that had abolished it for all crimes.
Some state governors have commuted death sentences. Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang commuted four inmates’ sentences on October 1, 2026, while Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah commuted those of 13 inmates. Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Fintiri also commuted a death sentence.
In December 2025, Fintiri pardoned Sunday Jackson, a farmer sentenced to death in 2019 for killing a herder during a confrontation on his farmland. The NHRC had appealed for clemency in April 2025.
The renewed appeal puts pressure on the Federal Government to turn Nigeria’s prolonged suspension of executions into formal policy as thousands of inmates remain on death row.