By Gbenga Ojikutu
Nigerian human rights defender and anti-death penalty advocate Arthur Judah Angel, has been assassinated in his country home in Edo state.
Mr Angel, who was the President and founder of Life Wire International Foundation, wrote: “I refused to die, a true life story of Divine Intervention on death row”.
SaharaReporters gathered on Tuesday that Mr. Angel, who had spent nine years of his life on death row after being sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit in 1986, was killed and buried in a shallow grave on Sunday.
The assailants also burnt down his house down after the assassination.
After he was granted a pardon and released from prison, Angel dedicated his life to fighting against the use of the death penalty in Nigeria.
He travelled to over 15 countries to speak out against death penalty through his art exhibitions and drawings.
The incident happened at Ugboha, Esan South East, Edo state.
When SaharaReporters contacted Arthur’s cousin, Michael Ihaza, he confirmed the assassination of his uncle.
He told SaharaReporters that although, they don’t know of anyone whom his late uncle had any problem with, the family has cases in court over their landed properties sold by trespassers and land grabbers.
“We won one of the cases a few weeks ago and Arthur was the head of the family,” he said.
He, however, noted that Arthur Angel’s 15-year-old son has been accused of killing him, adding that “as it is, we don’t believe that side of the story”.
He said, “Probably those who killed him may want to push that narrative to divert attention. If the son killed him, how would he have buried him alone and burnt their only house? He didn’t steal anything. He didn’t run away and he went to the police to report the incident.”
“Well, we want the police to do a thorough investigation and bring perpetrators to justice. But till the police are done with the investigation, we cannot really say what happened,” he added.
When SaharaReporters contacted the Edo State Police Command regarding the tragic incident, the Command’s spokesperson SP Chidi Nwabuzor said he did not have any record of such an incident yet.
He requested for the location of the incident so that he can track it.
A review of his autobiography on Amazon described ‘I Refused to Die’ as a personal and harrowing account of one man’s time on death row in Nigeria.
It described Arthur Angel as lucky enough to escape death row alive and brave enough to tell his story to the world in order to highlight the flawed and corrupt criminal justice and penal systems in Nigeria.
“Through his drawings and his book, he is courageously championing a cause.
“It may be difficult to assimilate this story. You heard or read about this but still wonder if it is true; anyhow, the story is real. It may sound like something out of a vicareque book, but this one is no fiction. It happened to Arthur Judah Angel.
