Linus Oota, Lafia
Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Sule has signed a bill into law making offenders to face death sentence for kidnapping.
The bill, which is a private one, sponsored by the deputy majority leader of the state House of Assembly and representative of Kokona West state constituency, Daniel Ogah Ogazi, prescribes the death sentence by hanging for kidnapping offenders in the state.
The governor also issued an executive order prescribing a 10-year jail term for parents of street beggars, noting that the law will take effect as soon as government evacuates the existing street beggars to the Tsungai educational system, which he says he is working to upgrade and enrolled them into.
Governor Sule further announced that his government will no longer allow the influx of street beggars from other states into Nasarawa, but will take care of the existing ones through the educational system.
Signing the kidnapping act into law, Governor Sule explained that the state kidnapping prohibition law was extensively deliberated on and passed by the state House of Assembly.
“This bill spells out various offences relating to kidnapping and prescribes stringent punishment for perpetrators, such as life imprisonment and the death penalty. In the same vein, it is important to note that buildings used in keeping victims of the heinous crimes will henceforth be forfeited to the government,” he stated.
He explained further that the state had domesticated the Penal Code Law of Northern Nigeria to enforce law and order by retaining most of the criminal law doctrines in the state without much alteration.
He also assented to the protection of children and implementation of the Child Right Protection Executive order, 2005 of Nasarawa State pursuant to section 5 (2) of the 1999 constitution.
“This will guarantee the safety, security, wellbeing, care, good health and education, as well as guarantee the future of our children,” Governor Sule said.
The governor equally inaugurated a volunteer vigilante guard, a domestication of the model penal code as a measure proffered to address the security challenges in the state in line with the community policing method adopted by North-Central governors recently.
The security committee is headed by the state Commissioner of Police, Bola Longe, with the Emir of Lafia and other traditional rulers in the state as members.