The call for capital punishment:
The Nigerian Senate is poised to legalise what is undoubtedly the most drastic measure against criminals anywhere in the world, and kidnappers in the country are at the centre of this decision. Yesterday, after the Senate examined and discussed the report presented to it by the Joint Committee on Police Affairs, National Security and Intelligence at its request, the Senate unanimously voted that the National Assembly pass the death penalty into law for kidnappers.
Instances of kidnapping and hostage-taking have been on the rise in Nigeria recently, spreading from the ‘usual suspect’ areas in the south-south and southeast to other parts of Nigeria, becoming a national cause for concern. Last week, a former Nigerian minister was taken in Ogun state while returning home from her farm.
On Tuesday, a state of emergency was declared in Kaduna state due to the high rate of kidnappings. Lagos and Abia States have also recently experienced similar scenarios involving the kidnapping of students, workers and expatriates alike, with kidnappers demanding for a ransom in most cases.
This unfortunate development occurring across the country has sparked fear and outrage in equal doses amongst Nigerians and has presently propelled Nigeria’s lawmakers to move the motion for capital punishment in response to the accelerating crimes of abduction in Nigeria. Therefore, at first glance, it is easy to understand why the Senate has arrived at its latest decision as a means of punishing the criminals.
However, moving on to the issue of effect, is the death penalty a fundamental and sustainable way to eradicate the terror of kidnapping in Nigeria? Amnesty International, for one, disagrees. This is on the grounds that executing one criminal – or 100 – does not guarantee the elimination of whatever crime they were executed for.
As a number of senators made good note of, one factor that essentially contributed to the spread of kidnapping in Nigeria remains the inefficiency of the country’s security agencies in containing this crime since it started gaining prominence in ‘high risk areas’ in the country.
Kidnappers should definitely be punished. But, perhaps after tempers settle in the Senate, the body can reconvene and reconsider the key factors that enable kidnappers to thrive and attempt to nip them in the bud. Hopefully this can assist them in coming up with less drastic options in the fight against kidnappings in Nigeria, before moving ahead with entrenching the death penalty for the criminals.
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