Kogi Governor Pardons 67-Year-Old Convict After 18 Years On Death Row

Prison

Following intensive advocacy efforts made by Avocats Sans Frontieres France (ASF France), the governor of Kogi State, Captain Idris Ichalla Wada, has granted amnesty to Mr Lasisi Yusuf, a 67 year old convict who has been on death row in Kaduna Prison for nearly 18 years.

A statement‎ issued by ASF’s Communications Officer, Esther Akpa  Eleojo Esther said‎ Mr Lasisi, a Kogi State indigene was arrested over charges of culpable homicide and was sentenced to death in 1996 by the High Court of Justice in Kogi State.

He was transferred to Kaduna Prison in 1997 and had been on death row since then.

Governor of Kogi State, Captain Idris Wada at a campaign event in an undated photo

Lasisi’s case was taken up by ASF France through the medium of its Saving Lives (SALI) project targeted at promoting international standards on human rights in Nigeria generally and, the restrictive pronouncement of capital punishment and abolition of death penalty specifically.

Other detainees released from incarceration owing to the legal intervention of ASF France include Zuwaira Tukur, Fatima Haruna and Mohammed Isyaku, all of whom were also convicted of capital offences in Kaduna State.