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Rev. King |
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.” #CAPNews
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