‘In Nigeria, a death sentence often isn’t an end — it’s just the beginning of another slow, forgotten nightmare.’
The Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja on Monday, April 28, sentenced Peter Nwachukwu, the husband of late gospel singer Osinachi Nwachukwu, to death by hanging for culpable homicide.
Justice Njideka Nwosu-Iheme handed down the sentence, dismissing Nwachukwu’s no-case submission and holding him responsible for the tragic death of his wife in April 2022.
But while the court’s verdict sounds final, history tells a different story: Peter Nwachukwu may never hang.
Since 1999, only two executions have been officially carried out in Nigeria’s prisons — now called correctional centres. Many have been sentenced to death, but most governors shy away from signing execution warrants.
Former Senator Shehu Sani captured the irony in a searing tweet:
“Most governors are reluctant to sign the execution order either for political, spiritual, or human rights reasons… The burden is left to the prison staff to manage condemned inmates, until when their sentences are commuted to life imprisonment.”
READ ALSO: Peter Nwachukwu Sentenced to Death for Murder of Osinachi Nwachukwu
Political fear, spiritual dilemmas, doubts about the judicial process, and pressure from rights groups have effectively turned Nigeria’s death penalty into a forgotten threat — a sentence on paper, not in reality.
Condemned prisoners spend years — sometimes decades — awaiting an execution that never comes, languishing in overcrowded, neglected cells. Many eventually have their sentences quietly commuted to life imprisonment, and society moves on.
Now, Nigerians are left asking:
Will Peter Nwachukwu ever actually be executed?
Or will he simply join the growing list of death row inmates abandoned by a system too broken to deliver final justice?
As the debate reignites over capital punishment and judicial delays, one thing is clear:
In Nigeria, a death sentence often isn’t an end — it’s just the beginning of another slow, forgotten nightmare.