By Chinyere Aruogu
The Lagos State Government will soon execute the condemned General-Overseer of the Christian Praying Assembly (CPA) Chukwuemeka Ezeugo (a.k.a Rev. King) and others on death row in Lagos prisons soonest.
The supreme court had on February 27, 2016 upheld the earlier judgment of the Appeal Court which passed death penalty on King, saying the condemned reverend must die by hanging.
Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice Lagos State, Adeniji Kazeem at a ministerial news conference on Tuesday, April 18 in Lagos, said the state government was reviewing the matter with a view to taking a crucial decision very soon.
Kazeem said he visited prisons in the state recently on the instruction of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, saying that what the prison officials drew his attention to was the highhandedness of those on death row as they felt that they had certain rights which excluded them from being executed.
He said the prison officials complained bitterly on this and wanted the government to take action to remedy the situation.
“Very soon, you will see the action of this government on that issues, we are reviewing the case on Rev. King and others on death roll,” he said.
Kazeem, who said previous administration had not deemed it fit to sign documents for the execution of convicts on death row, vowed that the Ambode administration was moving towards signing the execution document to executive those on death row.
His words: “Lots of people are on death row, Rev. King is not the only one on death row, it is on the instruction of Ambode that I visited the prisons recently and I discuss the issue with the prison officials and they expressed concern.
“We are moving in that direction of signing. The prison officials said we need to look at that seriously. Those on death row are beginning to think they have some rights. We are going to move in that direction, you will hear from me, but I will not tell you the exact date.”