The Supreme Council of Bishops, also known as World Council of Bishops, has written President Buhari, pleading for pardon for five young men sentenced to death by a court in Adamawa for the killing of a herdsman.
A Yola High Court had on June 11, 2018 sentenced the five men from Kodomun in Demsa council area of the state to death by hanging for murdering a herder in retaliation to the several killings in the area.In the letter, the bishops noted that Nigeria “has suffered untold bloodshed from killings, maiming, traumatisation of innocent citizens around the north eastern, north central and Middle Belt states, as a result of the frequent attacks by the militia herdsmen times without number.”
The correspondence, titled, “Special request for presidential pardon: Killing by hanging of five young men,” was signed by founding Primate, Abuja, Nigeria, Archbishop (Dr.) P. Sunday; Ecclesiastical Prelate Administrator, Houston, Texas, United State, Archbishop (Dr.) H. Parker; Apostolic Nuncio and Prelate to Africa, Lagos, Nigeria, Bishop (Dr.) J. Onyegbulem; and Ecclesiastical Prelate to West Africa, Niamey, Niger Republic, Bishop (Dr.) J. Hussein.
The clerics regretted that “till date no adequate justice had been meted out on them commensurate to the lives and property lost.” It therefore “totally condemns and disapproves vehemently the death sentence passed on the five young men on Monday, June 11, 2018 by a court of competent jurisdiction in Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria accused and charged for killing a herdsman.