Human Rights Group Calls for Commutal of Rev King's Sentence

Following the death penalty judgement to be executed on the General Overseer of Christian Praying Assembly, Rev. Chukwuemeka Ezeugo a.k.a Rev. King, a human rights group, Integrated Coalition for Human Rights, weekend called for commuting of the sentence.

The group, while reacting to the death sentence, said it was a travesty of justice and not in tune with modern day trials.

The Coalition in a statement signed by Dr. Raphel Umoren said the trial, prosecution and the eventual conviction by the Supreme Court of Nigerian fell short of all known legal procedure which warrant death sentence and called on the powers that be to commute the sentence without delay.

They noted that from the first day, the arrest of King after the ugly incident in 2006, was fraught with excessive power and indiscretion by the police.

Umoren said, "We will lose sense of history if we fail to record the misdemeanor and abuse of power by the police from day one

"It is on record that the SARS team that invaded his house after the allegation made away with over N5.5m church harvest without warrant.

"Even after he was arraigned at the magistrate court on a 2-count charge of conspiracy, attempted murder of seven members of his church, one of the female prosecution witnesses conspired with police and slammed an assault suit against him inside the court room.

"While another witness said on oath that Rev. King never poured fuel on anybody and that was why she was not used at the trial in the high court.

“It is also on record that some of the witnesses told the medical doctor at the clinic where they were rushed to after the incident that the deceased sustained the injury through generator accident.

"However, this was ignored by the trial judge who hinged his judgment on fabricated fallacies even when the deceased maintained in her statement that Dr. King was not at the scene of the incident.

"One of the interested parties in the case who earlier claimed that Kings abducted his wife is on record as the first person that visited the deceased in the hospital begging her to implicate Dr. King promising to fly her overseas for medical treatment yet she declined.

"However, after her death, her two statements in police letter-headed papers disappeared mysteriously and in its place, a foolscap sheet was used to fabricate what was said to be her statement.

This is in spite of the fact that no police station recorded any case of murder against Dr. King.

“One of the witnesses was coerced to testify against Dr. King for her freedom but after that, she came to Ikoyi prison where Dr. Kings was being detained to beg for forgiveness.

"All these salient but weighty points were tabled before those that adjudicated in the case yet they ignored them and sentenced the Rev to death at various stages of his trial.