Ndigbo Cultural Society of Nigeria (NCSN) has called on the
Federal Government of Nigeria not to make haste in carrying out the death
sentence passed on Rev. Chukwuemeka Ezeugo, the General Overseer of Christian
Praying Assembly, by the Supreme Court on Friday.
Leader of the group, Chief Udo Udeogaranya, made the appeal
after the Supreme Court threw out Rev King’s appeal against the death sentence
passed on him in 2007 by a Lagos High Court presided over by Justice Joseph
Oyewole.
According to Udeogaranya, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led
Federal Government should “commute the sentence and grant him pardon as Nigeria
stands to gain nothing by shedding blood.
“This plea is premised on the ground that many Nigerians
still hold Rev. Ezeugo as their spiritual leader even in various prisons and
that the initial trial in Lagos as purportedly put forward by his lawyer Mr.
Olalekan Ojo and published by national dailies was a miscarriage of justice in
which the lawyer made certain points that demanded a second thought.
“Ojo argued that his client did not commit the crime and was
not at the scene of the incident. He insisted that the deceased, Ann Uzoh, had
in two statements she made after the incident and before her death, stated that
she got burnt in a generator accident and that the cleric was not responsible
for her injuries.
“Ojo said the Investigating Police Officer, IPO, had
tendered statements which stated that Ezeugo was not responsible for the burns
that led to Uzoh’s death. He alleged that the trial Judge refused to admit in
evidence, the statements he said exonerated Ezeugo of the crime.
“The lawyer further contended had those ‘vital exhibits’
been admitted rather than expunged by the trial judge, they would have operated
to cast serious doubt on the case of the prosecution. He maintained that
Justice Oyewole’s refusal to admit the exhibits in evidence ‘occasioned a great
miscarriage of justice’ against his client.”
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