The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos State, Adeniji Kazeem, has announced that the General Overseer of the Christian Praying Assembly, Chukwuemeka Ezeugo, popularly known as Rev. King, is to be executed soon.
The latest development is said to be as a result of disturbances by some of the inmates on death row who were beginning to demand certain rights that excluded them from being executed.
Kazeem said that the state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, would sign the necessary documents to expedite the execution of the inmates on death row.
“Very soon, you will see the action of this government on that issues, we are reviewing the case on Rev. King and others on death row,” Kazeem said in a report published on PM News.
“Lots of people are on death row, Rev. King is not the only one on death row, it is on the instruction of Ambode that I visited the prisons recently and I discuss the issue with the prison officials and they expressed their concerns.
“We are moving in that direction of signing. The prison officials said we need to look at that seriously. Those on death row are beginning to think they have some rights. We are going to move in that direction, you will hear from me, but I will not tell you the exact date.”
On February 27, 2016, the Supreme Court of Nigeria had upheld the death sentence pronounced on Rev. King by the Appeal Court.
Rev. King was arraigned before the Lagos High Court in Ikeja on September 26, 2006 on six counts of murder and attempted murder of five other persons, all members of his church.
Rev. King was said to have murdered Ann Uzoh, by setting her on fire over allegations that she had committed fornication. Uzoh, who sustained varying burns that scarred about 65 percent of her body, died on August 2, 2006, 11 days after she was set on fire by Rev. King.
Justice Olubunmi Oyewole, who presided over the case at the time, found Rev. King guilty of the accusations and sentenced him to 20 years imprisonment on each of the five counts of attempted murder, and death sentence for murder.
