Ogun State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwasina Ogungbade, (SAN), has defended the need to sign death warrants of condemned offenders sentenced by competent courts, in order to serve as a deterrent to those who may want to commit heinous crimes in the state.
The State Commissioner for Justice made this known during an exclusive interview on “Frontline”, a current affairs program on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, monitored by Sunday Telegraph.
Recall that the high rate of criminality in Ogun State, prompted the state government last Friday, 17 January 2025, to announce that it is contemplating signing the death warrants of condemned offenders sentenced by competent courts in the state, after a scheduled visit to inmates and facilities at the Ibara Correctional Centre in the state capital.
Ogungbade said the move was not to decongest the correctional centres but to reduce the crime rate in the state, adding that the responsibility falls on the government to make a radical step to ensure a crime-free society.
“The essence of governance anywhere is to provide security for the citizens and that basically includes, not just prevention of crimes but also enforcement to the latter when somebody has gone through the whole judicial process of arrest, arraignment and trial or appeals, then government in this side of its duties must enforce the law to the latter and that of course will include signing of death warrants.
“We are towing this line because certain crimes are on the increase and has refused to go down. Ogun State is unique, it is called the Gateway State as we have boundaries on five different sides. Anybody going to certain destinations will go through Ogun state which has its own disadvantages”.
Ogungbade cited ritual killings, among other recurring crimes, as the prime reason for the government’s decision on the death penalty, stressing, “If you follow the recent trend, you will realize we have a particular problem with ritual killings and we feel that despite all the sensitization and all that has been done, some people feel because there are no consequences, they should continue with it. We will not allow that in this State.
“The death penalty is still part of our law, and until there’s a change to the law, we will enforce it”, he added.
While it is still a consideration, the human right community has consistently disavowed the death penalty implementation on the basis of the provisions of Moratorium on Death Penalty, pursuant to the recommendations of the National Study Group on Death Penalty, through the Federal Ministry of Justice, it was submitted.
