April 10, 1985: Bartholomew Owoh, Bernard Ogedengbe, and Lawal Ojuolape were executed by firing squad at Kirikiri shooting range in Lagos. General Buhari gave the order.

Barth Owoh, 26, Bernard Ogedengbe, 29, and Lawal Ojuolape, 30, were all arrested from April to May 1984 for peddling drugs. The crime was then bailable and not punishable by death. The Buhari dictatorial regime backdated a death penalty decree to have three of them executed at all costs.

Coincidentally, three of them were southerners. They were killed by General Muhammad Buhari for a crime that did not carry the death penalty at the time of the offence. It will be recalled that Buhari, while he was the military Head of State promulgated a decree prescribing death penalty for anyone caught for drug trafficking. But the trio of Barth, Ben and Lawal committed the offence before Buhari came into power. The laws of Nigeria at the time the offence was committed did not prescribe the death penalty. When Buhari took over power, he insisted the young men should be executed and they were publicly killed by marksmen. It was recorded that the drugs they were caught with belonged to the “big men”.
"My first time and I was led into it by my friend" - Barth Owoh (Nkem Owoh's brother).


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What do you all think about this?
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👍👍👍
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Okay