Hangmen wanted!

Only 4 in the whole country
• Nigerians apply secretly, assured of veiled ID

By PATRICK ASONYE, PAUL OMO OBADAN & BIDEMI OYELADE
Sunday, January 4, 2009

Are you keen on a job? Do you have a killer instinct? If you do, then this job suits you! It even gives you the legal authority to loop a noose round the neck of fellow human beings, and snuff life out of them.





As with James Bond in the epic series - 007 - you are licensed to kill. Here, the people who do this kind of job are called Hangmen! That’s the type available right now. The pay, it has been touted, is “good”, but it requires guts, courage and boldness. Beyond that, however, you have to possess a degree in Criminology.

Around the country’s prisons formations right now, there is a dearth of Hangmen - professional executioners, that is. Which explains why there are hundreds of condemned criminals awaiting execution at the moment.

Only last week, 27 of such men on death row in kiri-kiri Maximum Prison alone, dragged both the Lagos State and Federal Governments to court challenging the constitutionality of keeping them in the gallows for periods ranging from 10 to 24 years. No date has yet been fixed for the hearing of the suit filed at the Federal High Court in Lagos.

But if you ever imagined that most Nigerians would shrug their shoulders over the suggestion of taking a job at the gallows, here is a shocker. Sunday Sun learnt at the weekend that there has been a deluge of applications by Nigerians who have suffered unemployment for years.

Justifying the need to hire more executioners, a source said: “The Service is in dire need of the services of Hangmen. Right now, there are about four hangmen in the country. Their services are needed now, more than ever before. Imagine how many condemned criminals are in the cells as we speak, so they are needed.”

Although the job is usually reserved for serving prisons officials, Sunday Sun however learnt that somehow, outsiders got wind of the vacancies, and are already showing interest in the job; even lobbying to be hired.

Ideal situation

A source revealed that Hangmen are usually serving Prisons officials, who double as executioners. They are never publicly acknowledged in the latter category. Nonetheless, they are believed to be “well remunerated”.

The veil over their identities, a source suggested, is to protect them from odium and public ridicule.

“Yes, they are our colleagues, but I can’t honestly point at one person and say, ‘this officer is a Hangman’. We do not know their identities. So you might just be sitting and chatting with a colleague without knowing that he is a Hangman. That’s the way it is,” the source said.

Confirming what the source told Sunday Sun, the Prisons Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, CSP Ope Fatinikun said the Hangmen issue is an in-house matter, which must not be revealed to outsiders, even among their colleagues. He further said, any prison warder could be appointed a hangman because it is part of their training.

The PRO said the identities of hangmen are usually kept under wrap. They are only summoned to the gallows when there is an ‘assignment’ to be done. Even then, they usually wear masks.

What is curious, however, is the criterion attached to the job: They must be graduates of Criminology.



Psychiatrist’s opinion

So why would anybody want to do the job of a Hangman?

A Principal Clinical Psychologist, Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, Mr. Ajirotutu Omotayo, said: “a hangman must be a hard-hearted person who does not have emotions for human lives nor have value for live. Such a person must be someone who takes decisions without looking back; thinking that the convict must have killed unlawfully, therefore killing him lawfully is no sin.”

Mr. Omotayo further argued that for any person to do the job of a hangman, he must have gone through a period of apprenticeship, understudying other, adding that they must take a thorough counseling and psychological therapy.

Nonetheless, he said, “no matter how fat their salary, the psychological effects are bound to be there, which varies from one person to another.”

Considering the unemployment situation in the country, who, in fact, would agree to be a Hangman?

Ordinarily, this is not the type of job, as Sunday Sun found out, that most people would be proud of. Which explains why, those who bought the idea, declined to have their names in print, let alone give out their photographs. Conversely, those who expressed disdain for the job had no inhibition whatsoever giving out either their names or photograph.


http://odili.net/news/source/2009/jan/4/508.html

What is curious, however, is the criterion attached to the job: They must be graduates of Criminology.

They are not serious. You don't need a degree to hang criminals. This may be an opportunity to recycle killer almajiris. Let them go there and ply their trade.

Given the huge and growing demand for both fresh and smoke-dried human parts by fetish witch-doctors in all parts of Nigeria and Africa, how about making hangmen redundant by simply rendering condemned prisoners into the custody of jungle-shrine surgeons seeking subjects for Jujuological Research and Development ?

This innovative new policy would at the very least reduce the demand for kidnap victims in the ritual sacrifice industry.

.

This innovative new policy would at the very least reduce the demand for kidnap victims in the ritual sacrifice industry.

Good idea but fundamental faulty.

The ritualist are looking for PURE SOUL victims.

These criminals already have tainted SOUL; they are worthless.

Instead of killing, we should deploy them to farming, making roads, railway lines etc.

landis:

Good idea but fundamental faulty.

Instead of killing, we should deploy them to farming, making roads, railway lines etc.

Putting myself in the shoes of an offender for a moment,  I would definitely prefer this option over the ultimate sanction.

earTHMama:

Hangmen wanted!
Are you keen on a job? Do you have a killer instinct? If you do, then this job suits you!

Don't fukk with the advertisement killer-line.

earTHMama:

It even gives you the legal authority to loop a noose round the neck of fellow human beings, and snuff life out of them

Looks like a line from Al-Pacino movie

Good idea but fundamental faulty.

The ritualist are looking for PURE SOUL victims.

These criminals already have tainted SOUL; they are worthless.

Instead of killing, we should deploy them to farming, making roads, railway lines etc.

You know this for sure because?

Jakumo:

Given the huge and growing demand for both fresh and smoke-dried human parts by fetish witch-doctors in all parts of Nigeria and Africa, how about making hangmen redundant by simply rendering condemned prisoners into the custody of jungle-shrine surgeons seeking subjects for Jujuological Research and Development ?

This innovative new policy would at the very least reduce the demand for kidnap victims in the ritual sacrifice industry.

LOL. There's an industry? Is it a booming one?

LOL. There's an industry? Is it a booming one?

I don't know what mai suya and Muza are still doing in nairaland when they should be sending their resume/CV to them.

You are on your own o.

Since theres scarcity of hangmen,
Theres a very easy solution.
they can start using Firing squad,hanging is not the only way of killing ppl.

Someone has got to do it.

Northerners will do the job well.
Blood don already enter their eyes

Northerners will do the job well.
Blood don already enter their eyes

They need a bachelors degree in criminology. A northerner with a bachelors degree in todays Nigeria will be a DG or senator. The maximum degree they get is OND.

Govt no create job, una go vex; Dem create job, una dey complain. Wetin yaradua go do now?