Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Bayelsa Governor Henry Seriake Dickson says he is mulling signing death sentences for convicted kidnappers in the Niger Delta state to send a message that there is no place to hide for kidnappers.
Among the convicted kidnappers are those found guilty and sentenced to death by the Bayelsa State High Court for the kidnap and death of 87-year-old Pa Benson Esinte Adigo, uncle of former governor Timipre Sylva.
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Dickson, who dropped the hint during a media chat, said he was worried by the upsurge in abductions, with a number of them being carried out by criminal armed by political opposition leaders during the 2019 general elections.
The governor said he is seriously considering signing the death sentences to send the appropriate message that the Bayelsa State Government under his watch would not allow kidnappers get way.
Dickson, decrying what he identified as the continued undermining of the state security apparatus by key opposition figures, warned Bayelsans not to pay kidnappers, assuring the public that the security system put in place by his administration would ensure that the criminals were caught.
He seized the opportunity to sound a note of warning to those involved in kidnapping to desist forthwith as the government would clamp down on them.
“I want to use this opportunity to call on the young men who are into this nefarious act to stop it in their own interest. In this state, no matter how long it takes, if you kidnap someone we will catch you. There are so many convicts whose death warrants are on my table waiting to be signed. Any how you run, we will catch you. Those who kidnapped Timipre Sylva’s uncle, an old man, Chief Adigio …, I think, he even died in their custody. So callous, so cruel. They have been convicted and sentenced to death. So, people should be careful. No matter how long, we will catch you. And you will pay the supreme price for it,” Dickson declared.
He continued: “If you go to the prison, you have so many of them in Okaka. Violent criminals all arrested. In this state, the system we have set up, you may succeed in kidnapping somebody but you may not get away with it because we will get you very shortly. So, I want to use this opportunity to call on all those young men who are into that to desist and allow all the other people to come out and see how you can be a useful member of our community. There are ways we can support and rehabilitate (you). We can talk about that. We can rehabilitate you. But this idea of kidnapping old men and women and taking them to the forest to ask for money … nobody has millions and millions to pay anybody. And for me, you know I have a policy of not paying. Even when my late mother was kidnapped, I never paid. And in certain cases I shall waste no time in signing the death warrant for their execution.”