Kogi govt proposes death penalty for kidnapping
The Kogi State Government is to punish by death sentence anyone convicted of involvement in kidnapping and related offences.
The State Executive Council at its weekly meeting held in Lokoja, the state capital, received a proposal for an executive bill to enact a law to criminalise kidnapping and make it punishable by death by hanging.
A press release signed by the Hon. Commisioner for Information, Zainab Suleiman, and made available to Sunday Tribune read: “In response to the alarming rate at which citizens of our state are being kidnapped by unknown persons in recent times, there is an urgent need to enact a law that would make kidnapping and other matters connected therewith an offence punishable by death by hanging to serve as a check to the incessant cases of kidnapping and to prevent Kogi State from becoming a den of kidnapping and related criminal activities.”
The proposed bill seeks to legalise maximum sentence to be meted out for: “any person who kidnaps or abducts or by any other means of instilling fear or tricks, takes another person with intent to demand ransom or compel another to do anything against his will commits an offence” which according to the proposed bill is to be punished by death by hanging.
Specifically, according Section 4 (1) and Section 2 of the proposed law, any person involved in kidnapping: “a. where the life of the person kidnapped or abducted is lost in the process is liable on conviction to death by hanging; b. where the life of the person kidnapped or abducted is not lost in the process, is liable on conviction to imprisonment for life without option of fine.”
