Lawyers want stiff legal punishment for kidnappers
John Chuks Azu
Lawyers have called on the state and federal governments to use the existing laws for the punishment of kidnappers in the country.
Speaking on the offence, Abuja-based lawyer and publisher of FCT Law Review, Josiah Daniel-Ebune, said there are specific provisions in the statutes to punish kidnappers.
Ebune explained that “Sections 272, 273 of the Penal Code which carries a prison term, which may extend to a period of 10 years and/or fine on one hand, while Section 274 of the Code provides that whoever kidnaps a person in order that the person may be killed or may be so disposed of being put in danger of being killed, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term of 14 years and shall also be liable to fine.
“So 14 years is the highest punishment under the Penal Code. And you know these laws were made so many years ago when the offence of kidnapping has not taken the dangerous dimension it has now. So there is need for reform,” he said.
“Under Section 36 (12) of the constitution, the states are also empowered to make laws to cover fields that do not conflict with the federation. So you discover that states like Edo, Rivers, and I think Imo, have come up with special legislations which have expanded the gravity of punishment that could be meted out if somebody is convicted for kidnapping,” he added.
On the suit filed by the arrested Lagos kidnap kingpin, Evans, Barr Ebune said though its looks morally repulsive that he went to court to challenge his arrest and detention, but the law still presumes him innocent until proven guilty.
“Irrespective of whatever purported confessions that are being attributed to him, until they are filtered by judicial process, and there is a formal pronouncement by the law court affirming his guilt, Evans under the 1999 Constitution is innocent,” Ebune said.
“I am one of those who believe that kidnappers should be given the maximum punishment- capital punishment. The fact that we hold such opinions does not mean that the present provisions of the law as they are should be set aside contrary to the grundnorm of Nigeria.
“The majority of public opinion is that he should not even have been allowed to see the light of the day after his arrest. But the law does not operate like that. The law provides the minimum period within which any Nigerian can be put to trial until pronounced guilty by the court.
“For instance, under the law, within 48 hours Evans ought to have been put to trial. There are preliminary findings a diligent police could have used to charge him; and the police have the powers to amend their charges subsequently” he added.
Also speaking, the national convener for United Action for Democracy (UAD), Chief Gabriel Ojumah called for punishment that restrains the kidnapper from continuing with the practice.
“The appropriate punishment as provided by our law in some states if you are a kidnapper is death but some of us are against capital punishment, because we believe that it is uncivilized and evil to kill a fellow human being.
“A kidnapper is not a normal human being, something is wrong psychologically with that person and what the society needs to do is to restrain such person and prevent him from interacting with sane people in the society,” he said.