26th February, 2016
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.”
Chief Udo Udeogaranya