Monarch asks NASS to rescue Leah Sharibu, others before criminalising ransom payment

An Ogun State monarch, Eselu of Iseluland in the Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State, Oba Ebenezer Akinyemi, has called on the National Assembly to facilitate the release of Leah Sharibu and others in kidnappers’ dens before criminalising payment of ransom.

According to the monarch, the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Bill, 2021, which has scaled second reading at the Senate is a misplaced priority, unpopular and needless.

In an open letter addressed to the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, Oba Akinyemi argued that the proposed Bill is not what should be considered at the moment when the governments have failed in their duties to protect the citizens.

The Senate had on Wednesday considered the bill that prohibits the payment and receipt of ransom for the release of any kidnapped person, noting that any perpetrator would be liable to 15 years imprisonment.

But the monarch advised that if such a bill should be considered, the security architecture must be tightened, while captives must be rescued.

Oba Akinyemi asked, “When the security apparatus of the country is in shambles, and the government wants to sanction and punish ransom payers, will the captive now remain in the kidnappers’ den?”

The letter read, “If we want the Bill to be popular, the Federal Government should first rescue Leah Sharibu and other hundreds of innocent Nigerians who are still being held in kidnappers’ dens in all the nooks and crannies of our country, Nigeria.

READ ALSO: If Leah Sharibu were a Muslim, there would have been war —Christian group

“With all sense of honesty, I totally condemn the menace of kidnapping that has now ravaged our dear country, Nigeria. As a patriotic citizen, I will always support any steps that governments at all levels take with the view to ridding our country of all manners of criminalities, including the crime of kidnapping that is sadly gaining more currency/popularity in our country these days.

“However, I feel the Bill that is proposing a 15-year jail term for payers of ransom to kidnappers is a misplaced priority, unpopular and needless at this precious time because governments at all levels have failed in their responsibility to protect the lives and property of Nigerian citizens due mainly to the poor security architecture in the entire country.

“If families of kidnapped persons cannot pay ransom due to the proposed Bill and government does not have an effective security architecture to rescue the victims, it then means that the victims of kidnapping will be in the kidnappers’ dens till eternity.

“Lives of some of them may even be in danger in the hands of their abductors. Will that not amount to double jeopardy for the victims’ families? I am sure the children of the proponents of the Bill are not in this insecure country.

“To me, the first thing we should do is to develop a security strategy that will make the Nigeria Police Force and other Security Forces possess the competence and capacity to aggressively confront the crime of kidnapping in Nigeria.

“If we want the Bill to be popular, the Federal Government should first rescue Leah Sharibu and other hundreds of innocent Nigerians who are still being held in kidnappers’ dens in all the nooks and crannies of our country, Nigeria.”

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