Photo of Nigerian deathrow convict, Chijioke Stephen Obioha, who will be executed this Friday

Chijioke was arrested on April 9th 2007 with 2,604.56 grammes of cannabis in Singapore. He was charged, found guilty and sentenced to death  in November 2008. Under Singaporean law, trafficking more than 500 grammes of cannabis attracts the death penalty.

His execution has been scheduled for Friday November 18th except the president of the country pardons him..

  

The family of Nigerian man on death row in Singapore for possession of drugs, Chijioke Stephen Obioha said on Wednesday, that his appeal for clemency has been rejected and he is set to be executed on Friday, November 18.

Amnesty International has called on the Singapore government to immediately halt the execution

"The Singapore government still has time to halt the execution of Chijoke Stephen Obioha," the Human Rights agency said on Wednesday.

"We are dismayed that clemency has not been granted in his case but remain hopeful that they won’t carry out this cruel and irreversible punishment against a person sentenced to the mandatory death penalty for a crime that should not even be punished by death," said Rafendi Djamin, Amnesty International’s Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

"The death penalty is never the solution. It will not rid Singapore of drugs. By executing people for drug-related offences, which do not meet the threshold of most serious crimes, Singapore is violating international law. Most of the world has turned its back on this ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. It is about time that Singapore does the same, starting by restoring a moratorium on all executions as a first step towards abolition of this punishment."

On April 9, 2007, Chijioke Obioha, a University of Benin industrial Chemistry graduate was found in possession of more than 2.6 kilograms of cannabis, surpassing the amount of 500 grams that triggers the automatic presumption of trafficking under Singapore law.

His appeal against the conviction and sentence was rejected in August 2010. After the rejection of his clemency appeal in April 2015, his execution was set for May 15, 2015. The Court of Appeal later lifted the stay of execution with effect from October 24, resulting in the execution date set for November 18th.