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PAGE TITLE: http://dailypost.com.ng/
ARTICLE
TITLE:
Capital punishment: I swore to obey the
constitution of Nigeria, not yours – Oshiomhole carpets UN, EU, others
DATE: Friday 5 July 2013
AUTHOR: Wale Odunsi
AUTHOR
INFORMATION: Adams
Aliyu Oshiomhole (born 4 April 1952) is a former labor leader, turned
politician who recently won a landslide victory for a second term as the
Governor of Edo State in Nigeria on the platform of the Action Congress . His
first term was won following his court appeal to the results of a massively
rigged April 2007 election in which the candidate of the ruling People's
Democratic Party Oserheimen Osunbor had initially been declared the winner. He
assumed office on 12 November 2008 after winning the appeal. Oshiomhole was
formerly president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and was prominent as
the leader of a campaign of industrial action against high oil prices in
Nigeria.
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Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole
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Edo state governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has informed
the international community that Nigeria as a sovereign nation will always
uphold its constitution.
He said this while reacting to the United Nations,
European Union and others, over the hanging of the four armed robbers sentenced
to death by hanging by the Supreme Court, the nation’s apex court.
Speaking at the second annual seminar on the “Role
of Public Complaints Commission in a democratic Nigeria’ organized by the
Public Complaint Commission, in Abuja on Thursday, the governor maintained that
anyone who deliberately kill another deserves the capital punishment.
“We are part of the international
community and my views must just be heard like the views of any other person. I
am concerned about death, I am concerned about the sanctity of the human life
and even as a Catholic I am even more fanatical about the sanctity of human
life, he said.
“As a governor and I believe it is the
statement of the European Union he (Ambassado David Macrae, head of delegation
to Nigeria and ECOWAS European Union) is talking about the rule of law, the
rule of law is the fundamental of human right.”
He said during his swearing-in, he swore to obey
the Nigerian constitution nd not resolutions, communiqué and recommendations of
the international.
“The day I was sworn in, I subscribed to obey
the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria there was no suggestion to
me that I shall obey the resolution of the UN or the European Union.
Continuing, “I do
understand that there is no such thing as universal values. As we speak nations
and humans battle ideas on the basis of different value system and it will be
abuse of my own right and my own value if some one thinks that his views are
superior to my own value and views.
“I do not think that my values are less
human and at any rate I will act according to my value that is why I took vow
and I say to my brother Ambassador in trying to understand how best to protect
the sanctity of human live, we must ask question is it better to pardon those
who kill? If it is so, will it lead to more people being killed or should we
tell the people that if you kill you don’t have the right to live,” he said.
The governor who said that Nigeria is a sovereign
nation that struggled to gain independence so as to live according to the
norms, values and culture of the people, regretted that those Nigerians who
tried to raise eyebrow over the decision to execute the robbers, live on
foreign handouts.
“I did not do what I did in Edo may be
because President Goodluck wants me to do so, if President Goodluck Jonathan tells
me to go and execute one that does not require it I will not. I will tell him I
am the head of the state government.
“The reason is that both the president
and myself are the creation of law and we are to abide by the Nigeria
constitution. A guy went to rob, after robbing his victim he was not done, he
brought out a cutlass and killed the guy, he was not done, he severed the head
from the body and butchered the parts and buried them in different locations in
other for people not to know that somebody was killed.
He said the police carried out a thorough
investigation and the law took its cause.
“They arrested this guy, took him to take
them where he buried the different parts and the matter passed through the Edo
State High Court, to the Appeal Court and to the Supreme Court
“I have what is called prerogative of
mercy but as a catholic I asked myself the ten commandments said that thy shall
not kill and God who has the infinite right to forgive decided to create hell
side by side heaven, those he forgive go to heaven those he did not forgive go
to hell and if God should create hell, who am I so I refused to exercised my
prerogative in favor of the robber so that the order of the supreme court could
be carried.
“But there are some idle lawyers who read
law upside down. I am happy the bar is here, the bar must be guided by the
code, when the supreme court has pronounced a judgment somebody goes to a High
Court to challenge the decision of the supreme court by a lower court, even we
know a lower court can’t question the supreme court,” he said.
Governor Oshiomhole said it would amount to an
abuse of his own value if somebody should think that his own value was superior
to his (Oshiomhole), adding that as a sovereign nation, Nigeria defined its
national interest and that no other country should define the interest of the
country to Nigeria.
“Why should we respect the right of a
criminal, what of the right of the victim. In Edo State, if you kill and the
law finds you guilty and convicts you, you will not live,” he said.
On the controversy trailing the Nigeria Governors
Forum election won by Governor Chibuike Amaech of Rivers State, Governor
Oshiomhole said that he was amazed over the comments of the President of the
Nigeria Bar Association, Okay Wali.
“The NBA, I have a complain against them. We have
had vibrant leadership and an activists as NBA Presidents. I saw the NBA
president lending support to people who are not ready to accept a small
electoral defeat, he said.
“A man (Jona Jang) came from Jos and the other one
(Chibuike Amaechi) came from Rivers to campaign for votes, the Jos man got 16
votes, Rivers got 19 votes. Any day I see the new president, the current
president of the NBA, he is an embarrassment to the NBA. He needs to purge
himself of those reactionary pro establishment agencies.”
Reacting to the disagreement between the Federal
government and the National Assembly in the passage of the Supplementary
budget, the former Labour President lamented that the non release of the
appropriation was affecting his credibility as a governor.
“I heard that the Presidency and the Minister of
Finance who is the Coordinating Minister of the Economy are aggrieved that the
National Assembly has refused to entertain or legislate on the supplementary
budget, the National Assembly is saying it has passed the budget.
“My own fear remains how to address the challenges
facing Edo state. The ministry of finance has not released my money in full.
From January till now more than N1.8 billion appropriated to Edo is being
delayed by Abuja that is affecting my credibility as a governor to fulfill my
commitments to my contractors.
“If as a governor I can’t get my statutory
allocation on the basis of the rule of law, I am aggrieved so if Public
Complaint Commission can help me. If we don’t manage the system well, we are
going to lose credibility before the people.”
He praised the FCT Commissioner of the PCC, Chief
Obunike Ohaegbu for the reformations that he had brought to the commission,
calling on relevant authorities to further support the commission.
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