By Babatola Akinsanmi
In response to security challenges nationwide, the Senate has been working diverse measures to deepen internal peace, order and stability. The measures include the classification of kidnapping as an act of terrorism and prescription of death penalty for kidnappers, their financiers and informants.
The last fortnight has been quite engaging in the Senate, even the National Assembly. The reasons for such high-spirited engagement are in two folds. First, it is associated with the spate of kidnapping, hostage-taking and other related heinous offences that took place in different parts of the federation.
Second, the search for lasting antidotes to the security challenges further deepened the senate’s multi-pronged engagement. And the engagement was tied to restoring peace, order and stability across the federation. This is premised on the conviction that the National Assembly has the mandate to make or review laws to enable security agencies carry out their operations within the ambit of duly enacted laws.
Specifically, the succession of kidnapping incidents in Maga, Kebbi State; Papiri, Niger State; and Eruku, Kwara State inspired the senate to take diverse initiatives to support the efforts of the President Bola Tinubu administration to nip insecurity in the bud. At least, these cases alone brought 313 persons, including about 250 schoolgirls, into the captivity of the kidnappers. However, some of them have regained their freedom.
Measures from the Senate
In response to these challenges, the senate has been taking measures to strengthen the country’s counter-terrorism operations. One of such measures was the dissolution of the Senate Committees on Air Force as well as National Security and Intelligence, which Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele attributed to ineffectiveness in the exercise of their oversight powers. This initiative received unanimous support from all senators across all the political divides.
Besides, the senate directed its Committees on Army, Navy, Defence, Interior and Police Affairs to submit reports of their activities to the plenary within two weeks. The essence of the reports, according to Bamidele, is to highlight the initiatives the committees have taken to reduce the waves of insecurity in the country and justify why they should not be dissolved and reconstituted.
While President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio subjected this initiative to the decision of the plenary, it was a case of unanimity among the senators. This attested to what Bamidele ascribed to the resolve of the senate to first purge itself as it explored other measures that could further reinforce the country’s national security.
The senate, also, treated with an unusual speed the request of the president for the screening of his Minister of Defence Nominee, General Christopher Musa. The request was subjected to consideration the day the senate president formally read it at the plenary, which according to him, could not be delayed due to the need to sustain the fight against the enemies of the country.
Inside the Bill
Apart from all these measures, the senate initiated “a Bill for an Act to amend the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.” The amendment bill was sponsored by the senate leader. But prior to its initiation, all senators subscribed to the national significance of the bill, which they all argued, would meaningfully contribute to countering extremist violence across the federation.
At the core of the bill lies the collective will of all the lawmakers, indeed all Nigerians to address gaps in the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022. As canvassed in his lead debate, the senate leader pointed out three central objectives that inspired the senate to seek review of the Act, first enacted in 2011 to prosecute and punish any person found guilty of terror and other related acts.
Bamidele first identified the compelling need to designate kidnapping, hostage-taking and other related offences as acts of terrorism. The classification, according to him, empowers our security agencies with broader operational authority, intelligence capabilities, and prosecutorial tools available under counter-terrorism law.
He, also, cited the failure of the existing counter-terrorism legislation to prescribe maximum punitive measures for kidnappers and hostage-takers. Unlike the existing regime, the senate now agreed that the death penalty be recommended for all perpetrators of kidnapping, hostage taking and other related crimes.
Bamidele further observed that the bill did “not only recommend the death penalty for kidnappers or hostage takers. It equally recommends it for their logistics providers, financiers, informants, harbourers, transporters and anyone who knowingly assists, facilitates, or supports kidnapping operations. And its essence is to serve the purpose of deterrence and empower law enforcement agencies to confront kidnapping at a scale it currently demands.”
The senate leader highlighted the significance of the bill, when it becomes law, to become a veritable tool, which the law enforcement agencies “will leverage to dismantle kidnapping networks by enabling stronger enforcement as well as placing kidnapping under the terrorism framework anywhere in the federation.
“By placing kidnapping under the terrorism framework, agencies can pursue: asset tracing and forfeiture, intelligence-led operations, inter-agency coordination, swift pre-trial procedures under terrorism laws, disruption of funding and logistics chains. This will help weaken the infrastructure that sustains kidnapping syndicates,” he pointed out with a conviction to pursue counter-terrorism campaigns with more consequential regimes.
The grounds for these proposals are pure and simple,, according to the leader of the senate. He ascribed the grounds to the manners kidnappers “have killed their victims; compelled them to pay ransom; subjected them to brutal torture, raped, mutilated and starved hostages; and used crime proceeds to procure more weapons and perpetrate more crimes.”
Evident in its grievous consequences for the victims, their families and the economy at large, Bamidele argued that kidnapping “is no longer a mere crime. It is terrorism in its purest form,” which he argued, should not be fought with kid’s gloves. “If an offence repeatedly results in mass murder, mass fear, mass displacement, and systemic destabilization, then the strongest legal sanction becomes necessary.”
No more deradicalisation
At the height of the debate, some senators questioned the efficiency of the deradicalisation programme, which the federal government introduced to discourage violent extremists and terrorists from taking up arms against the state. Even though all senators supported amendments to the Terrorism Act, some argued against the programme, citing its failure to bring about desired outcomes.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Interior, Senator Adams Oshiomhole first questioned the deradicalisation programme, which according to him, had not failed to prevent extremists, hostage takers, kidnappers and terrorists from returning to their crimes.
He emphasised the danger of extending amnesty “to extremists and terrorists, a model that has not effectively countered extremist violence.” He, thus, faulted “a practice whereby an extremist or terrorist will be arrested and allowed to go without facing consequence of his crimes in the name of deradicalisation and reintegration. This has not produced any meaningful result given the rising acts of terrorism nationwide.”
Based on evidence in the public domain, Oshiomhole pointed out two scenarios, which he said, justified the failure of the deradicalisation programme. In the first place, the failure of the programme manifested in a situation where some of the repentant terrorists went back “to take up arms against the state that granted them amnesty.”
The failure, also, became more evident in another situation whereby the federal government spent “so much money on prosecuting terrorists, and the suspects will not be allowed to bear the brunt of his heinous crimes.” He classified such a practice as a case of double loss, which according to him, would continue to fester the wounds of injustice in the federation.
Oshiomhole, therefore, pushed for the adoption of capital punishment for kidnappers, hostage takers and other related offences. He said such a measure “is rooted in the Bible and Quran. If the holy books prescribe that those who are killed have no right to be alive, we should not hesitate to do the same. This bill should outlaw any initiative or programme that seeks to deradicalise whether extremists or terrorists, kidnappers or hostage takers. If any individual is caught and convicted for such heinous acts, then the penalty should be death and nothing more.”
Supporting Oshiomhole’s argument against the deradicalisation programme, Chairman, Senate Committee on South-East Development Commission, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu lamented untold agonies that kidnappers “have subjected their victims, whether in the North or in the South.
“Consequently, it is a natural thing for all senators to unite against such acts and push for a system that will enforce maximum penalties. Likewise, informants, sponsors and everybody involved in such heinous acts must face the full consequences of their crimes.”
Kalu concluded that Nigerians “have suffered so much in the hands of kidnappers. Young girls have been raped. Women have become widows for no reason. This must not continue again,” Kalu called attention of his colleagues to untold and grievous pains that Nigerians had suffered and the need for more consequential measures.
Resolution of the Senate
Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Abba Moro summed up the perspectives to the bill, which according to him, perfectly reflected the spirit of unanimity among all senators. As a result, he called for its passage into second reading, citing the need “to complete the review on time and come up with a new regime that emphasises consequence rather than pardon.”
After the exhaustive debates, the senate resolved in favour of the bill, passing it into second reading unanimously. It also adopted all the amendments to the bill as proposed by the senate leader. It referred the bill to the relevant committees for the purpose of wider consultation, public hearing and securing buy-in of the people.
The senate further directed its Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters chaired by Senator Adeniyi Adegbonmire, SAN to midwife the process of the public hearing and report to the plenary within two weeks. It mandated the judiciary committee to work together on the bill with its Committee on Interior as well as Committee on National Security and Intelligence.
• Akinsanmi, a peace and governance, specialist, wrote from Abuja
