Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo has said he will sign the death warrants of four kidnappers sentenced to death by the state’s Special Criminal Court if they do not appeal within 30 days.
Mr Okpebholo spoke on Friday, 23 October, at the God’s People Worldwide Prayer Ministry in Ekpoma, while recounting his administration’s efforts to tackle kidnapping, cultism and other crimes. “If within 30 days they don’t appeal, I will execute (it),” he said, expressing hope that the convicts would not challenge the judgment.
Legal experts and senior advocates say the ultimatum conflicts with Nigerian constitutional law, which entitles the convicts to exhaust every level of appeal, up to the Supreme Court, before any death warrant can lawfully be enforced. The defence has reportedly indicated its intention to appeal.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the court sentenced the four on 29 September over the abduction of a woman at the vegetable market on Airport Road, Benin. Justice Aigbona Momodu convicted them on an 11-count charge covering kidnapping, conspiracy, armed robbery, cultism and illegal possession of firearms, and imposed death by hanging or lethal injection for the kidnapping counts. “My hands are tied under the law. I wish the law permitted me to exercise my discretion,” the judge reportedly said. The convicts are Marvellous Isaac, 32, the alleged gang leader; Wisdom Michael, 36; Rufus Emete Michael, 30; and Gift Raphael, 27. Isaac received additional prison terms on other counts.
On 14 June, four armed men in an SUV abducted Mrs Oseghale Ofure Precious at the market in broad daylight, in front of her husband and children, and dispossessed her of jewellery worth millions of naira. She was freed on 27 June after an ₦8 million ransom was paid. Police later linked the gang to other crimes, including a ₦25 million kidnapping in March 2025 and the robbery of a Lexus 350.
Mr Okpebholo said insecurity was a major concern when he took office, and that President Bola Tinubu urged him to proceed when he raised it. “When the kidnappers attacked the vegetable market area, I told the commissioner of police that I wanted them arrested without delay,” he said. He added that he consulted prominent traditional rulers before launching the campaign against kidnapping and cultism, and warned them against intervening for anyone involved in crime. “I told them not to come begging me because I will not listen,” he said.
Edo has carried out executions before. On 24 June 2013, four men convicted of armed robbery and murder were hanged at Benin City Prison after the governor signed their death warrants, ending a seven-year national moratorium. In December 2016, three more inmates were reportedly hanged secretly, drawing criticism from Amnesty International and LEDAP because their appeals were said to be still pending.
