Singapore: Halt the Execution of Chijioke Stephen Obioha

16 November 2016

We urge the President and the Cabinet of Singapore to halt the execution of Nigerian national Chijioke Stephen Obioha, whose execution is scheduled to be carried out on 18 November 2016.

Chijioke has served 9 years on death row, after being sentenced to the mandatory death penalty in November 2008. He was found guilty of trafficking 2604.56 grammes of cannabis.

Chijioke maintained that he was innocent, and refused to exercise his right to apply for a Certificate of Cooperation after the law was amended in 2012, as he felt that it would require him to plead guilty to the crime. His first clemency petition was rejected in April 2015. However, he had a change of mind a day before his schedule execution in May 2015. He was then granted a stay of execution.

Following legal advice that he would not qualify as a “courier” under the amended laws, Chijioke withdrew his application. This led to the lifting of the stay of execution on 24 October 2016 and the setting of the execution date. His family has also been informed on 16 November 2016, two days before his scheduled execution, that his second clemency petition has been rejected by the State. They have been unable to make their way to Singapore over the years and is heartbroken by the news.

SADPC would like to reiterate that the death penalty is not a solution to crimes, and is against its application under all circumstances. We urge the President and Cabinet of Singapore to halt the execution, and to commute his sentence to life imprisonment.

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For more information, please read: A Door to Hope