Oshiomhole signs into law the death penalty for kidnappers in Edo State

Following a recent string of high profile abductions in Edo State, Governor Adams Oshiomhole yesterday signed into law the Kidnapping Prohibition Bill as recently amended by the state House of Assembly.

The governor vowed during the signing ceremony that government would do everything within its powers to ensure the safety of life and property in the state.

He said: “We have had enough laws in our statute books that provide for various degrees of punishment for various offences. I think the real challenge is about law enforcement and dealing with the problem of impunity. Laws will be worthless if we do not have the capacity to apprehend, interrogate, persecute and interrogate criminals and invoke the full weight of the law.

“I am convinced that within the three arms of government of the legislatiure, the judiciary and the executive, we have a responsibility to make laws and enforce those laws in a way that would send clear signals to those involved in acts of criminality, whether they are kidnappers, armed robbers, rapists that the security agencies now much more determined than ever before to ensure that this state becomes too hot for criminals to operate.”

Oshiomhole said most of the kidnappers are migrant criminals from neighbouring states and declared: “I want to assure the good people of Edo State that government is concerned about the state of kidnapping. We share the pain, the agony and trauma which victims of kidnap are all subjected to. But I assure our people that everything is being done to keep these criminals in check.

“Having signed into law the death penalty, let me assure the good people of Edo State that as reluctant as one wants to be in matters of life and death, I am convinced that the overriding public interest dictates that we invoke the maximum penalty available in our law on those involved in the act of kidnapping. Anyone sentenced and convicted, I will sign the death warrant.”

The Governor disagreed with those who argue that kidnapping is a result of unemployment, saying “no one should try to trivialise very complex issues.”

The Nation