Stakeholders caution Senate against criminalising payment of ransom to kidnappers

Some stakeholders have begun to advise against the Senate’s plan to criminalise payment of ransoms to terrorists and kidnappers.

Senators working on an amendment have been proposing a 15-year jail term for those who pay ransoms to secure the release of their abducted loved ones.

Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Tuesday, Prof. Olusoji Aremu, an expert in Counselling and Criminal Justice Studies, described the proposal as a misdirection of effort.

“It is a misdirected effort because families of kidnap victims do not have a choice, but to pay ransoms if their loved ones must regain freedom, ” Prof. Aremu who teaches at the University of Ibadan said.

“The proposal is quite amusing and will be of no effect. Payment of ransom is not to encourage or to motivate criminals in their evil agenda.

“What the Senate should do is to evolve a Bill that will strongly discourage kidnapping,’’ he said.

Also frowning at the proposal, a political scientist, Dr Gbade Ojo, said lawmakers should make laws that would impact positively on Nigerians and not those that would add to their agony.

Ojo, former Chief of Staff to a governor in Oyo State, added that it would amount to intellectual laziness to start debating on a legislation that would jail anyone who pays ransom to kidnappers.

“If a senator who is buoyant enough to pay for his liberation is kidnapped for a whole month, will his relatives not pay to get him released at all costs?

“When you arrest a ransom giver and the person who collected ransom is not arrested, how would you bring the ransom payer to trial?’’ he queried.

“What should matter is for the security agencies to detect whatever method the kidnappers use in collecting ransoms and prevent a reoccurrence,’’ the political scientist said.

On May 19, the Senate sought to include an amendment of 15-year jail term to serve as deterrent against payment of ransom to kidnappers, abductors or terrorists in the 2013 Antiterrorism Bill.

The receiver or kidnapper will also face the same punishment if caught.

The Bill was sponsored by Sen. Ezenwa Onyewuchi (PDP-Imo East).