Kidnappers should die by hanging
The Senate recently endorsed a proposal which prescribes life sentence for kidnappers as against the current law that provides for 10 years imprisonment. This was sequel to its consideration of a bill titled: “A Bill for an Act to amend the Criminal Code Act CAP C38 LFN 2004 to delete the Statute of Limitation on […]
The Senate recently endorsed a proposal which prescribes life sentence for kidnappers as against the current law that provides for 10 years imprisonment. This was sequel to its consideration of a bill titled: “A Bill for an Act to amend the Criminal Code Act CAP C38 LFN 2004 to delete the Statute of Limitation on Defilement, Increase in Punishment for the Offences of Kidnapping, Remove Gender Restrictions in the Offence of Rape and for Related Matters, 2019”, sponsored by Senator Oluremi Tinubu.
Senator Tinubu led the debate by saying, “While the law prescribed 20 years jail for armed robbery, it only provides 10 years of incarceration for kidnap which amounts to the stealing of a human being.” She said the proposed amendment seeks life jail for kidnapping. Tinubu said, “Section 364 proffers a punishment of imprisonment for a term of ten years where a crime of kidnap is established. For avoidance of doubt, as defined by the Act, kidnap is unlawful imprisonment of any person to prevent him from applying to a court for his release or from disclosing to any person where he is imprisoned.”
Mrs. Tinubu asked, “Why is the punishment for stealing property and replaceable things higher than what is obtainable when you steal a human being?” She also observed that the frequency of kidnap cases across the federation, its accompanying trauma, and the number of lives lost to the crime all make it imperative to review existing laws with a view to ensuring appropriate punishment for perpetrators as well as deterrence for potential perpetrators. This was why, she said, this bill proffers a life sentence for persons found guilty of kidnapping. Senators supported the bill in their contributions to the debate. The Senate thereafter approved that the Bill be read for a second time when Senate President Ahmad Lawan put it to voice vote.
In Nigeria today, kidnapping is about the worst security challenge confronting the country, almost equal to the threat that insurgency posed to the nation at one point. The heinous crime of kidnapping became the most ‘lucrative business’ engaged in by criminals since 2017. Sometime in 2018, kidnappers almost made the Abuja-Kaduna highway as their den. In 2019, they extended their heinous activities to the country’s capital city, Abuja. This is also as the payment for ransom progressed from naira to bit-coin. About 1,000 kidnap cases have so far been reported in the media in 2019 alone. Kidnapping is now an organised crime.
We support the proposed bill that seeks to amend the law that prescribes 10 years imprisonment for criminals found guilty of kidnap, but we believe that life imprisonment is not enough to deter offenders. Lives and life savings of victims, their kinsmen and friends have been lost to kidnappers. The account of the trauma which some kidnap victims suffered in the hands of their abductors is nightmarish. Some kidnap incidents were as appalling and violent as armed robbery. Many innocent lives have been lost to the hard-hearted crime of abduction.
It isn’t good enough that the National Assembly is just debating and about considering life sentence as a penalty for kidnappers several years after some states in the federation passed laws that prescribe death penalty for the same crime. It would seem ridiculous for the federal government to have a threshold of punishment that is lower than what some states have already legislated for kidnappers. While the sponsor of the bill under debate finds life imprisonment stiffer than the existing law of 10 years imprisonment, kidnappers deserve more than that.
Death by hanging is a tougher penalty that could deter kidnappers and their accomplices from perpetrating their horrific activities. In addition, properties of persons guilty of the crime should be confiscated by government and the house used for keeping their victims should be demolished. In deciding the appropriate punishment for kidnapping, federal authorities should lead from the front, not from behind.