Ondo joins the train, but is this sufficient as deterrence?
Kidnappers face the gallows in Ondo State if apprehended and convicted of the crime. This is courtesy of a new law being processed by the Lucky Aiyedatiwa administration. The law, which prescribes capital punishment for kidnappers upon conviction, is a hard tackle by the government on the growing menace of insecurity that has seen a good number of people abducted in the state, as elsewhere, and involving payment of ransoms by victims鈥 families 鈥 in some cases, the death of abductees even where ransoms were paid.
State attorney-general and commissioner for justice, Kayode Ajulo, SAN, said kidnapping and cultism had become major threats to safety and public order, informing the state government鈥檚 resolve to strengthen existing legal framework as could deter such crimes and improve the overall security landscape. According to him, a meeting of the state executive council presided over by Governor Aiyedatiwa deliberated on the worsening security trend and adopted proposals that included capital punishment for kidnappers.
The council also resolved that property used as hideouts or operational bases by kidnappers be demolished. 鈥淜idnapping and cultism have become a menace to the peace and safety of residents. We are committed to restoring law and order through robust legal framework,鈥 he noted.
Ajulo spoke against the backdrop of incidents of kidnapping in the state amidst modest gains by security agencies in terms of suspects鈥 arrest and rescue of victims. Briefing journalists following the weekly state cabinet meeting in Akure, the state capital, he said the proposed law would soon be transmitted to the Ondo State House of Assembly for necessary legislative action. The All Progressives Congress (APC) that controls the executive also has an overwhelming majority in the state legislature and is expected to approve the law.
With the proposed legislation, Ondo joins other states that have stipulated capital punishment for kidnappers in their statute books. The legal framework hitherto is as enacted by the administration of former Governor Olusegun Mimiko, prescribing life imprisonment for the offence of kidnapping in the state. A former House of Assembly speaker, Taofeek Abdulsalam, was last year reported acknowledging that the law was passed by the sixth state assembly. 鈥淚t was passed into law during our time (sixth assembly) and the penalty is life imprisonment,鈥 he said.
Other officials, however, indicated the possibility of the law being reviewed; among them a former Majority Leader of the state assembly, Oluwole Ogunmolasuyi, who was reported saying: 鈥淭he bill was passed and signed into law by the previous assembly, but we will study and know if it needs to be reviewed or not.鈥
Kano State has the anti-kidnapping, abduction and forced labour law enacted by the administration of immediate past Governor Abdullahi Ganduje in 2019, and which has been adopted by the incumbent administration of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf. 鈥淭he law stipulates the death sentence for kidnappers who abduct and kill their victim, while kidnappers who abduct but did not kill their victim, if apprehended and found culpable, would be jailed for life,鈥 Ganduje had said while signing the bill into law.
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In Benue State, there is the anti-kidnapping law that stipulates death sentence for abductors, which the administration of Governor Hyacinth Alia inherited from the former Samuel Ortom administration. It was former Governor Ortom who signed into law the Abduction, Hostage-taking, Kidnapping, Secret Cult and Other Related Offences Act, 2017, which further prescribes, among other things, that anyone whose house was used for unlawful detention and kidnapping, if found guilty, is liable to the death sentence. Also, whoever permitted his premises to be used for hostage-taking will forfeit the property to government.
Bayelsa State has the anti-kidnapping law enacted in 2013, which prescribes the death sentence for offenders. The legislation, assented to by former Governor Seriake Dickson after its passage by the state legislature, empowers the governor to sign the death warrant of a person or group of persons convicted of kidnapping and related crimes.
In Nasarawa, the state kidnapping prohibition bill signed into law in 2020 by Governor Abdullahi Sule stipulates the death penalty on conviction, and forfeiture of any property used by kidnappers, while the owner of such a property would be liable to 20 years in jail.
There are other states with capital punishment prescribed for kidnapping.
But, besides the broad debate about the propriety of capital punishment in administering justice, its effectiveness in curbing the menace at issue is highly moot. In other words, it is doubtful the states that have had the provision in their laws for some have kidnapping under control by now.
Besides the slow pace of court processes that delay conviction of suspects, governors have generally been reluctant to sign death warrants of convicts, resulting in ballooning death rows in congested custodial centres. Perhaps these are contributory factors to the stipulation not serving as deterrence in states that already have it in their statute books.
This is why we recommend that rather than wait to apprehend offenders and subject them to the penalty, all efforts should be made to put security architecture in place that forestalls the offence.