Drug Trafficking: Ejiogu Ikechukwu From Nigeria To Die By Lethal Injection In Vietnam

Drug Trafficking: Ejiogu Ikechukwu To Die By Lethal Injection-The news that Nigerian  Ejiogu Benjamin Ikechukwu is currently on the waiting list of Vietnamese execution squad is not new. What is real news is that with recent changes in the law, he would be one of those who fall prey to the nation’s new law  silencing drug dealers  through lethal injection.

The use of  lethal injection to kill criminals only came to effect last August when the first victim was killed through the process.

 According to informed sources, more than 10  Nigerians may have been secretly silenced by  the Vietnamese government for hard drug offenses and other related offenses in the past year.

Vietnam in 2011 suspended public Execution by firing squad  as it has always relied on carrying out capital punishment to deal with all criminals flouting her drug law.

According to sources, the country had a gap of two years from 2011 during which they perfected all plans for the new law on lethal injection and during the time, made efforts to  procure chemicals for lethal injections production.

Only last August, Vietnam executed its first prisoner by the method.

In 2011.an appeal by emn-news.com to the Federal government of Nigeria to enter into negotiation with the government of Vietnam so that erring Nigerians in the country could be spared of incessant execution was never taken seriously.

The appeal followed the pending execution of one  Michael Ikenna Nduanya, another Nigerian youngster who was committed to death for drug trafficking in Vietnam. Michael’s Vietnamese wife, who was an accomplice in the drug deal, was sentenced to life imprisonment.

 

Michael fell prey to the first group of drug pushers who was killed by lethal injection.  But briefly after his sentence was handed, the new law was put forward for deliberation and his fate was then suspended because  the law  changed since  July of that year. He was sentenced in March of that year as deliberations were on-going on the use of lethal injection.

It was the contention of the government that lethal injection would be  a more  dignifying death for drug criminals than firing squad.

As news of Nduanya’s death sentence broke out in 2011,  Nigerians across the world  called on the Nigerian Federal government to make concerted effort to negotiate his life with the communist government of Vietnam.

He was then described as one of the victims of Nigerian government’s youth neglect with millions wasting away due to unemployment and lack of motivation for self-employment  due to non-provision of infrastructures.

Every year, thousands of Nigerians go on self-seeking enslavement across the world looking for life lines and things to do for survival. Many in the process  have met their untimely death.

Responding to the call for a more caring attitude by the Nigerian government towards the citizens outside the country, the Senate leader, David Mark said then that Nigerians who engage in  criminal offenses outside the country deserve to die because of their act.  His view was seen by many as an act of contempt towards the nation’s constitution as it preserved the live of Nigerians both home and abroad. Many even pointed out to the fact that power nations always protect their own especially considering the image tainting such situation might bring to the country.

Vietnam  currently has more than 586 prisoners on death row, at least 117 of whom meet all the criteria for immediate execution, the country media reports claimed.

Although the country does not release statistics on executions, rights group Amnesty International recorded five executions in 2011 and said 23 new death sentences were handed out that year, mainly to drug traffickers.

Foreigners are usually frequently fall foul of the nation’s stiffest drug laws.

In June last year, a Thai design student was handed a death penalty for trafficking three kilos of methamphetamine, while in October, a 61-year-old Filipina received the death penalty for smuggling five kilograms of methamphetamines.

Convictions and sentences are revealed only by local media which is strictly under state control in the communist nation.

Executions are carried out by a firing squad comprised of seven policemen. Six of the men fire rifles while the captain fires a final shot to the head from a handgun if required. The prisoners are blindfolded and tied to stakes at execution grounds in the suburbs of Vietnamese cities. ( See the video above)

Relatives of the condemned are not informed of the execution beforehand, but are asked to collect the prisoners belongings two or three days afterwards.

There are 29 capital crimes recognised in Vietnamese law, although drug trafficking accounts for the majority of executions there. Nine people were put to death in 2009 and just three in 2008. The Vietnamese legislature voted on the 17th of June 2010 to replace firing squads with lethal injections from July 2011, according to the VietnamNet online news service.

There were 80 death sentences and four executions last year in Vietnam, according to the tally. Most death sentences in the communist country are issued for drug and murder cases.

Michael Ikenna Nduanya, 34, confessed that he had visited Vietnam in 2008 and had met Nguyen Thi Hai Anh, 27, from Dak Lak Province and they had since lived together as husband and wife.