NIGERIA: Obasanjo Supports Abolition of Death Penalty

President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday expressed full support for the worldwide abolition of the death penalty.

He said at an audience with members of an international organisation of citizens and parliamentarians against the death penalty, that he was committed to fighting to save lives and would continue the campaign "here in our country and internationally."

"For me, the most sacred thing in life is life and none of us has the right to take what is so sacred. I am not against punishment but it should not be terminal," Obasanjo told members of the non-governmental organisation led by a member of the Italian Parliament, Mr Roberto Giachetti.

He added that "Some of the mistakes we make in life can be corrected but the mistake of taking life cannot be corrected. We can never be absolutely certain that a death sentence is fair and taking one life never brings back another. If it is to serve as deterrent, taking life, in history, has never really served as a deterrent."

Members of the delegation were at the Presidential Villa to inform Obasanjo that their organisation had dedicated its current annual report on the death penalty worldwide to him in recognition of his contributions to the campaign for the abolition of the death penalty.