In response to the alarming surge in kidnapping incidents across the country, ten Nigerian states have declared their commitment to enforcing harsh penalties, including death sentences and life imprisonment, for convicted kidnappers.
This announcement comes as the Inspector-General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun, deploys intelligence squads to state commands and formations to combat the escalating wave of abductions and other crimes.
The states pledging to implement the death penalty include Kano, Benue, Bayelsa, Enugu, Anambra, Nasarawa, and another northern state.
Officials from Kwara, Ondo, and Osun states have also said they will ensure the application of relevant anti-kidnapping laws, including life imprisonment.
The nation has been grappling with heightened security concerns as a series of abductions, carried out by gunmen, have unfolded in various states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Victims have been targeted, abducted, and subjected to extortion by what appears to be an organised criminal network.
In Kano State, the Director-General of Media and Publicity, Sanusi Tofa, confirmed that the administration, led by Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, would uphold the anti-kidnapping law that prescribes the death penalty for convicts. Similar commitments were expressed by officials in other states.
The Anti-kidnapping, Abduction, and Forced Labour Bill, signed into law by the past administration in Kano, empowers the state to impose the death penalty on kidnappers who abduct and kill their victims.
For those who abduct without causing harm, the law mandates life imprisonment.
In Benue State, the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice and Public Order, Fidelis Mnyim, pointed out the commitment of the current administration to implement the anti-kidnapping law, which stipulates the death sentence for abductors.
Mnyim noted that numerous kidnap suspects had been arraigned in court.
The Bayelsa Anti-kidnapping law, enacted as the ‘Bayelsa State Kidnapping and Allied Offences Act, 2013’, also prescribes the death sentence for the offense of kidnapping.
The legislation grants the governor the authority to sign the death warrant for convicted people or groups involved in kidnapping and related crimes.