Oshiomhole Signs Death-Penalty Law For Kidnapping

EDO State governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has
signed into law the “Kidnapping Prohibition Law 2009”
as recently amended by the Edo State House of
Assembly.
The law prescribes death penalty for anyone who is
involved in any form of kidnapping in the state.
Oshiomhole while appending his signature to the Bill
yesterday in Benin said, “That as reluctant as one
would want to be in matters of life and death, I am
convinced that the overriding public interest now
dictates that we invoke the maximum penalty
available in our law to all those involved in the act of
kidnapping. Anyone sentenced and convicted; I will
sign the death warrant”
“But criminals have a choice to abstain from
criminality, abstain from kidnapping, abstain from
killing so that they in turn can live and enjoy the good
things of life”, just as he insisted that those who
argued that the problem of kidnapping came from
unemployment should not simplify a very complex
issue as kidnappers do not have state of origin and
they were migrants and do not respect neither state,
national or international boundaries.
He assured Edo people that everything was being done
to ensure that security agencies put in place a
comprehensive network that would ensure effective
policing of the various security flash points across the
state.
“I am convinced that all of us in the three arms of
government, that is, the Legislative, the Executive and
the Judiciary do have a responsibility to make laws
and enforce those laws in a way that will send clear
signals to those involved in various acts of criminality
be they kidnappers, murderers, rapists and whoever
they are that the security agencies are now much
more determined than ever before to ensure that this
state becomes too hot for criminals to operate”
“I am aware from reports of those who have been
arrested over the period that the overwhelming
majority of these criminals are migrant criminals who
came from neighboring states and sometimes from far
away states to perpetrate various crimes in EdoState
and escaped back to their states across the country”
“I want to assure the good people of Edo state that
the government is concerned with the state of
kidnapping. We share the pains, agony and trauma
which the victims of kidnap and other violent crimes
are subjected to or experienced”, adding that
everything was being done to keep the criminals in
check.