The Senate has passed a resolution classifying kidnapping as an act of terrorism.
The resolution is geared toward stipulating that an amendment to the Terrorism Act be made to impose the maximum penalty of death.
The resolution was made during plenary on Wednesday after a heated debate on a bill for an act to amend the Terrorism prevention and prohibition act to designate kidnapping, hostage taking and related offences as act of terrorism to prescribe death penalty for such offences.
According to the Senate under the amendment law, once a kidnapping conviction is established, the death penalty must be applied without option of fines
The leader of the senate Micheal Bamidele who presented the lead debate of the bill said Nigerians suffer from a persistent security crisis fuelled by attacks and violence by bandits that raid villages, kill people, and kidnap for ransom.
According to him this classification will further empower security agencies with broader operational authority, intelligence capabilities, and prosecutorial tools available under counterterrorism law and the bill seeks to prescribe death penalty without an option of fine.
He said this stringent punishment is to serve as deterrence to perpetrators.
” the bill seeks to dismantle kidnapping networks by enabling a stronger enforcement regime aimed at placing kidnapping under the terrorism framework where relevant agencies can pursue asset tracing and for future intelligence-led operations, interagency coordination,”
The senate president Godswil Akpabio while commenting on the bill said it has become necessary to take such actio. Because soul has great value it should not be wasted just like that
Also senator Abdul Ningi one of the strong opposition senator in the red chamber believed that without taking this stringent measure the insecurity situation will escalate the more
The senate then passed the bill for the second time and sent to a committee for further legislative action.
Cov/ Bashir M
