Treash:
Death sentence or Capital punishment is usually prescribed for offences like Murder, Armed Robbery, kidnapping and the like. The punishment could be executed via firing squad (for Armed Robbery), hanging and lethal injection.

In the international sphere, death penalty shall not be carried out on pregnant women and children.

In the 36 states of Nigeria including Lagos State, the law states that a pregnant woman shall be exempted from being sentenced to death. In lieu of the death sentence, she shall be sentenced to life imprisonment.

It is pertinent to note that the relevant status of the woman is not her status at the time of the commission of the offence but her status at the time of conviction. This means that even if the woman actually committed the offence but got pregnant while in detention during trial, she will not be sentenced to death while delivering judgement.

However, the position of the law in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja is different. In Abuja, the pregnant woman shall be sentenced to death. However, her execution will be stayed until the baby is delivered and weaned.

However, there is a contradiction between the last provision in Abuja and Child Right Act which also covers FCT, Abuja. Section 221(2) and (3) of the Child’s Right Act provides thus:
“No expectant mother or nursing mother shall be subjected to the death penalty or have the death penalty recorded against her...
The court will weigh the balance of both laws to reach its determination.

Credit: Grace Kalu.

Barr. Adeolu Ayo Aderinto.

supercase1:
kolisokoloko



Anything is possible in the rotten banana republic of nigerriya