Nigeria: Reflections - the Other Singapore

Daily Trust (Abuja)
OPINION
February 5, 2007
Posted to the web February 5, 2007

Isaa Aremu

The eventual sad ending of Nigerian, Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi, convicted of drug trafficking down town Singapura, capital of the Republic of Singapore, South-East Asia, occupies another chapter in the unending story of Nigeria's serial wastage of human capital. However what would not be easily obliterated with the cremated body of Tochi were the naughty developmental (read: underdevelopment) issues around 727.3 grammes of heroin, estimated by authorities to be worth 1.5 million Singapore dollars (US$970,000) allegedly found on him, the attendant belated response of Nigerian authorities and the dashed mass expectations that Tochi could have been saved.

Once again Nigeria joins the globalization train from the last wretched coach of drug pushing and death by hanging under the Misuse of Drugs Act, 1973, of Singapore. It is a sad commentary that Singapore captures popular imagination in 2007 Nigeria via the hangmen of Singapura on Friday, January 26. Conversely notwithstanding the quality of his trail adjudged to be anything but fair and globally perceived as "phoney" and "racist", it remains a global scandal that a 21 year old Tochi discovered Singapore in search of a football carrier which was bad enough that ended in drug trade which was the worse enterprise. Singapore for those who care is a City state of just 4 million people compared to 140 million Nigerian Federation. For good measure, in the 50s when Nigeria's multi-ethnic population was 80 million, Singapore had just over a million triple-ethnic population with majority being Chinese followed by some significant Malay and Indian. Singapore's per capital income of slightly above $600 dollars in the 50s and 60s was miserably behind Nigeria's $1500 during this period.

to read all

Singapore

Some Inconsistencies in This Report

The article below either contains information that points to a third individual who was supposed to be hanged on the same day as Tochi or is mis-reading the situation. I know that South Africa denied claims that a South African was hanged by Singapore, not because he received clemency at the last minute but that the South African government denied that Malachy was South African. Tochi and Malachy were both hanged, but there has been no reference to a third individual being granted clemency.

Ripples over hanging of Nigerian teenager in Singapore
TUNDE AKINGBADE
Posted to the Web: Sunday, January 28, 2007

THE authorities in Singapore, Friday, hanged a 19-year-old Nigerian Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi, under questionable and controversial circumstances. The teenager was said to have had on his person some quantities of hard drug when he was arrested in Singapore. He was not alone in the matter that eventually made him to pay the supreme price. Another African was hanged along with him. But, a South African, who was also sentenced to death by the Singaporeans along with Amara Tochi over drug related issues had his sentence reversed, following the intervention of President Thabo Mbeki who appealed to the authorities in Singapore to temper justice with mercy. For weeks, Amara Tochi stood trial over the drug matter after he was alleged to have been found with 727.3 grammes of heroin which was punishable by death under the Misuse of Drugs Act, 1973 of Singapore.

Aside from that the article does shift some of the blame of Tochi's death to the Nigerian government.

However, there are ample reasons for the Nigerian government, the Ministry of Information and National Orientation Agency (NOA) to educate Nigerian citizens about countries that operate primitive laws and generally ask them to avoid such countries like plagues no matter the economic benefits therein and technological advancement.

Such references to Mbeki in the first extract do give the existence of a third person credibility. Can anyone clarify this matter.

Singapore

Singapore executes 2 Africans on drug charges despite international clemency appeals

SingaBLOODYpore.

Why didn't we know about Okeke Nelson Malachy, 35?

The Death Penalty in Singapore is still clouded in secrecy...

The Associated PressPublished: January 25, 2007

SINGAPORE: Singapore executed two Africans on drug trafficking charges Friday despite pleas for clemency by Nigeria's president, the United Nations and human rights groups.

Nigerian Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi, 21, was hanged at dawn in the city-state after being convicted of trafficking 727 grams (26 ounces) of heroin — nearly 50 times the 15 grams (0.53 ounces) of the drug that draws a mandatory death penalty in Singapore, the Central Narcotics Bureau said in a statement.

A stateless African named Okeke Nelson Malachy, 35, who was convicted as the person to whom Iwuchukwu was supposed to deliver the drugs, was also executed Friday, the statement said.

About a dozen activists held an overnight vigil outside maximum-security Changi Prison, where the execution was carried out. Just before the hanging, they stood or sat with their heads bowed, holding roses in the flickering glow of candles on the ground around photos of Iwuchukwu and a red-and-white soccer jersey said to belong to him.

Prominent Singapore-based art critic Lee Weng Choy, 43, said he disagreed with Singapore's mandatory death sentence regulation, which he said takes away the discretionary power of the judiciary.

"I also disagree with its justification as a deterrent. The reality is that drug trafficking has not been reduced to zero, neither has drug use," he said at the vigil.

The execution was carried out despite an appeal by Nigerian President Olesegun Obasanjo, who asked Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong earlier this week to commute the death sentence.

Lee replied Thursday that Iwuchukwu had committed a serious offense under Singapore law and had exhausted all legal options.

"We did not take the decision lightly," Lee wrote in a letter. "I realize that Mr. Tochi's family will find Singapore's position difficult to accept, but we have a duty to safeguard the interests of Singaporeans, and protect the many lives that would otherwise be ruined by the drug syndicates."

Singapore's strict drug laws made international headlines — and triggered an outcry in Australia — in December 2005 when the city-state executed a 25-year-old Australian heroin trafficker despite numerous appeals from the Canberra government.

Singapore has said its tough penalties for drug trafficking are an effective deterrent against a crime that ruins lives, and that foreigners and Singaporeans must be treated alike.

Human rights group Amnesty International says Singapore has the world's highest per capita execution rate. Last week it urged its members to push Singapore's government to grant Iwuchukwu clemency and for a moratorium on all executions in the country.

The United Nations also urged Singapore on Thursday not to execute Iwuchukwu because it would violate international legal standards on the use of the death penalty.

"The standard accepted by the international community is that capital punishment may be imposed only when the guilt of the person charged is based upon clear and convincing evidence leaving no room for an alternative explanation of the facts," said a statement by Philip Alston, the U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

Iwuchukwu, a footballer, was arrested in November 2004 at Singapore's Changi Airport after arriving from Dubai with 100 capsules containing heroin that authorities estimated to be worth 1.5 million Singapore dollars (US$970,000; €795,930).

At the time of his arrest, Iwuchukwu told narcotics officers the pills were African herbs that he was supposed to give to a sick friend. He also told officers that he came to try out for soccer teams playing in the Singapore League.

Iwuchukwu's family, who live in Nigeria, could not afford to travel to Singapore to see him while he was on death row, said Princewill Akpakpan, a lawyer with the Civil Liberties Organization, Nigeria's largest human rights group.

"The execution will place Singapore in a negative spotlight among civilized nations of the world," Akpakpan said by telephone on Thursday.

I am so angry I have decided to remain silent...

Singapore hangs Nigerian drug smuggler

Peoples Action Party BASTARDS...

Fri Jan 26, 2007

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore hanged a 21-year-old Nigerian man for drug smuggling on Friday, despite pleas from the Nigerian president, the United Nations and international human rights groups to spare his life.

Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi was hanged at about 6 a.m. (2200 GMT) at the city-state's Changi prison, Stanley Seah, assistant superintendent at Singapore's Central Narcotics Bureau, told Reuters.

No further details were immediately available.

Tochi was arrested at Singapore's Changi Airport in November 2004 for carrying about 727 grams of heroin.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo asked the Singapore government on Tuesday to grant a reprieve to Tochi, who was a champion football player in Nigeria according to human rights group Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign.

In Geneva, the United Nations' special investigator for extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions said on Thursday that Singapore would be violating international legal standards on the use of the death penalty if it went ahead with the hanging.

The death sentence is mandatory for anyone caught carrying more than 15 grams of heroin in Singapore, which enforces one of the harshest anti-drug laws in the world

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AMARA TOCHI

The High Court in Singapore had imposed Death Sentence on Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi. 19, a Nigerian and Okele Nelson Malachy, 33, who is stateless (from South Africa).

On the 16th March 2006, the Court of Appeal dismissed their appeals. As a last resort, they can file appeal for clemency to the President. It is clear from previous clemency petitions that the President hardly grants any clemency.


In Singapore, "the law presumes that a person caught in possession of prohibited drugs knows that he is in possession of illicit drugs, with the burden of rebutting the presumption on the person charged."

Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi thought that he was carrying African herbs that tasted like chocolate. On 28 November 2004, he was arrested at the Changi Airport transit lounge with heroin. He had with him 100 capsules of heroin weighing about 727.02 grams.

Tochi was arrested for allegedly carrying heroin while Malachy was nabbed in a subsequent police operation after Tochi identified him as one of his companions. The court in Singapore handed the death sentence after a 13-day trial. It is disturbing to note that the learned trial judge himself having raised reasonable doubts proceeded to convict them.

Against Tochi the trial judge Mr.Kan Ting Chiu made the following finding at paragraph 42 of his judgment [2005] SGHC 233:

"There was no direct evidence that he knew the capsules contained diamorphine. There was nothing to suggest that Smith had told him they contained diamorhine, or that he had found that out of his own."

Against Malachy, the trial judge made the following finding at paragraph 61 of his judgment:

"Although there was no direct evidence that the accused knew that the capsules contained drugs, and there is no presumption of such knowledge raised against him…"

Singapore