No fewer than 81 convicts including three females are allegedly on death row and awaiting executions across correctional facilities in Niger State but are yet to be executed.
DAILY POST learnt that a large number of the death row inmates in the custody of two correctional centres in Minna were convicted and sentenced to die by hanging.
They were said to have been found guilty of culpable homicide punishable under section 221 of the penal code law by a court of competent jurisdiction in the High Courts of Niger State.
DAILY POST gathered that many of the inmates have remained in Correctional Custody, after their convictions, since the advent of the current democracy in the country as the various state governors failed to sign or endorse their death warrants for execution.
Confirming the development, the Public Relations Officer of Nigeria Correctional Service, NICOS, in Niger State, Mohammadu Rabi’u Sha’ibu, CSC said a total of 81 inmates on death row are awaiting executions.
He explained that the convicts comprised three females and seventy-eight males currently in various centres in Niger state.
It was gathered that the presence of the inmates in the facilities has begun to pose a challenge in the facilities, especially, as fates hang in the balance.
Sha’ibu said the death row inmates tend to get easily agitated often leading to crises in the custodial centre.
A source who would not want to be mentioned told our Correspondent that some of DR inmates are potential dangers at the custodial centres adding, ” Any slight provocation will cause a serious problem that may likely lead to jailbreak in the state”.
“This is the challenge we are facing with these inmates in our custodial facilities now in the state. Since the inception of the present dispensation, from 1999 to date, no State governor has signed any death warrant for the execution of any inmates, ” The source noted.
Furthermore disturbed by the possibility of a jailbreak due to the number of IDRs in the two centres in Minna, the Comptroller of the Correctional Service in Niger State, Alh Muhammad Hamisu Isah, it was learnt transferred about 48 of them out of Minna to correctional facilities outside the state early this month.
Recall that the jailbreak which occurred at the Minna Minimum Security facility sometime in 2021 was by mostly those on DRs in the state.
Death row inmates posing danger to Custodial Centres, prisoners in Niger – NICOS