The Vanguard

NIGERIA: National debate on Death penalty -- Abolish it

The topic is such that will generate heated argument at the moment. For the purpose of looking at the subject of discussion from the perspective of people (who take part in murder, adultery and treason), I have decided to give my opinion.

The committer of crimes written above need not to be killed. It is largely unreasonable for government or individual to kill somebody because he is a criminal. Killing the offender is like committing as great an offence as the offender himself has committed. Can two wrongs make a right? Obviously not! Those who want death penalty may say that killing the offender will bring pain to bear on him. But it is doubtful that killing the offender by public firing squard will make him (offender) feel any pain.

Execution of a criminal by firing squard, hanging or electrocution is no longer a deterrent to others. Many condemned offenders will just smile cheerfully while facing any of the death penalties written above. Knowing that in 2 or 3 minutes all will be over. This means, the punishment does not deter or discourage others who might want to commit the same offence.

I suggest that the life of condemned criminal should be spared. As the Yoruba sayings: "beheading is not a cure for headache." Similarly, to those who are optimistic should think that criminals can still turn over a new leaf, if their lives are spared. Abound to die in the wool, a criminal can turn over to preach the Gospel of God, teaching morality and good manners.

Such people appear to be the best set of people who could mould and change the lives of up-coming criminals. If such people are killed immediately, would they be able to influence others positively and bring about a safer and better society which we live?

Let me recommend that, instead of killing an offender, government should attach the offender to religious homes and morality schools where their minds could be changed, thereby becoming useful tools for government and society, later. If death penalty is stopped and my suggestion is experimented, in few year�s time, crime will completely an issue of the past.

I am writing on this topic because a human being is a member of the species man, the world we are is full of crimes, almost everybody who is politically conscious has strong feelings about one or more of these issues, but I want you, if you can, to set aside such feelings for the moment and consider yourself only as a member of a biological species, which has had a remarkable history. We have to learn to think in a new way, we have to learn to ask ourselves what steps can be taken to prevent the issue of crimes, when the issue must be disastrous to all sides.

The present time is one in which the prevailing mood is a feeling of impotent perplexity. We see ourselves drifting towards a crime that hardly anyone desires - a crime that, as we all know, must bring disaster to great majority of mankind. But like a rabbit fascinated by a snake, the government stare at the "treason" without knowing what to do to avert it. The ever presence of wealthy patron atre the cause(s) of "treason". We need not to shy away from the truth that there are those who finance the activities of treason and until these set of people stop their bad behaviour, we may not be able to predict when treason will be a thing of the past.

The psychological conditions for the taming of power are in some ways the most difficult. In connection with the psychology of power, we saw that, rage and all kinds of crimes collective excitement tend to make men blindly follow a wealthy godfather, who in most cases takes the advantage of their trust to establish himself as a criminal. It is therefore important if democracy is to be preserved, both to avoid the circumstances that produce general excitement and to educate the general public in a such a way that the crimes shall be little prone to moods of this sort. Where a spirit of ferocious dogmatism prevails, any opinion with which men discharge is liable to provoke a breach of the peace.

Finally, in my campaign against the topic, I conceive the society as an orchestra in which the performers have different parts to play and different instruments upon which to perform and in which cooperation results from a conscious common purpose. I believe that each individual has his proper pride. He should have his personal conscience and his personal aims, which he should be free to develop except where they can be shown to cause injury to others. I attach importance to the diminution of suffering and poverty to the increase of crimes, and the production of beauty and art. The "state" for us is a convenience, not an object of worship to leaders.

I am not psycho-analyst, but I think if I were, I could find more things to say about death penalty at this point. But we need not to kill the offenders!

Olojede Kolawole Martins---(Youth Activist)

24, Oluomo Street, Ifo, Ogun State.