Kidnapping Laws without Enforcement

Governor, Adams Oshiomhole 

Davidson Iriekpen writes that the growing incidence of kidnapping in the country is not because of absence of laws, but basically lack of enforcement

Within the same period that the Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole joined the growing list of governors that have made kidnapping a capital offence, the younger sister of Special Adviser to the President on Research and Documentation, Mr. Oronto Douglas, Mrs. Augustina Douglas-Ayam was seized in Bayelsa State.  The state where Douglas-Ayam was kidnapped before she was freed after days in captivity also has stringent laws against the crime. Other states where the law is currently in operation are Delta, Anambra, Imo, Abia, Enugu, River, and Akwa Ibom.

Therefore, shortly after the governor’s assent, many questions had been raised, the most poignant being enforcement. The law, which now empowers the governor to sign the death warrant of any person or group of persons convicted for kidnapping and other related offences in the state, is aimed at curbing the incessant cases of the crime, which has instilled fear into the minds of both the indigenes and visitors alike in the state. Before now, the only prescribed punishment for the crime is various terms of imprisonment for offenders.

While signing the law Oshiomhole warned those involved in the crime to steer clear of the state because he would not hesitate to sign their death warrants when convicted by a court of law.
The governor said the amended law now prescribed death penalty for kidnappers as well as those who aid and abet them. He hit the nail on the head when he stated that though there were enough laws that served as punitive measures for various criminal offences, the challenge being faced by these laws was enforcement.

He reiterated government’s concern about the spate of kidnapping in the state, saying they were aware of the pain kidnappers had inflicted on their victims and families. He pointed out that hundreds of criminals had been arrested in the state and were awaiting trial and urged the youths to stay away from crime as it was not an alternative to legitimate means of survival.

“This law is signed in good faith; the government has the will to implement it in totality. No special taskforce or tribunal will be constituted to try defaulters because we are determined to make this state too hot for them to operate. This administration has taken necessary steps to effectively police all the security flash points in the state as we have discovered that the major criminals were migrants who visit the state and escape after committing crimes.

“It is in the overriding public interest of the public that the amended bill is signed into law and, by so doing, all hands must be on deck to fight crime and criminality in this state,” he said.
“We have, as a government, provided within the limits of our resources, the enabling environment and logistics for the operation of the security agencies,” the governor said.
In recent times, government officials, politicians, celebrities, businessmen and women, academicians and other professional dread to live or stay in any part of Edo State, particularly Benin City.

Within a space of three months, the state had witnessed over 20 cases of kidnapping. While on some occasions, the criminals had dared to abduct public officials and well known personalities thereby attracting attention to the nefarious crime, on other occasions, they have kidnapped not-so popular people without attracting the attention of the media. The dimension the offence had taken might have defiled the tireless efforts of the Oshiomhole-led administration for zero tolerance to criminality in the state.

Recently, a state High Court Judge was abducted on his way to work in Ekpoma. The wife and daughter of a Supreme Court Justice, Rhodes Vivours, were not spared when they came to the state recently. They were abducted and kept for over 10 days before being freed. Also, human rights lawyer, Chief Mike Ozokhome, was abducted in the state. So were the two wives of a prominent businessman, Dr. Iyayi Efianayi, who were kidnapped in Benin City. Many others too numerous to mention have equally fallen victims to the kidnappers.

Apart from the trauma the victims are made to suffer, they have also been made to part with sums running into hundreds of million of unbudgeted naira, thereby fuelling the nefarious trade.
Based on his antecedence, it is not in doubt if Oshiomhole would sign the death warrant of anybody convicted of the crime. Unlike some of his colleagues who had displayed lack of political will to sign the death warrants of convicts sentenced to death in their states, Oshiomhole recently took up the gauntlet  when he approved the execution of four convicts on the death row in the state.

Since the law was signed, one question many analysts have continued to ask is ‘of what effect is law if it is not properly enforced?’
It had been stated on a number of occasions that a piece of law that is not enforced is like a dead horse, yet many of the states and the federal government have continued to churn out laws. Experience has shown that Nigeria is not in dearth of laws. At the federal, state and local government levels, there are a plethora of laws to curb various crimes and infractions. What observers feel is clearly lacking has been enforcement of the laws and getting a conviction.
On a daily basis, crimes and other infractions are committed in the full glare of enforcement officers with no resistance from them. The inability of the enforcement officers to effectively discharge their duties is well known, including the criminals. This has no doubt emboldened them.

Like Oshiomhole observed while assenting to the law, part of its challenge would be enforcement. Experience had shown that making law in the country is not a problem but enforcing such a law and getting a conviction in the law courts. In a country with weak law enforcement and justice system, many observers are waiting anxiously to see how the governor would succeed in his fight against kidnappers.

Most times, the police display gross incompetence and investigative prowess to go after criminals and suspects, thereby living what they should have done for mother luck or fate. Also, against the backdrop of the fact that  the law is strictly a state offence and the fact that the police is a federal agency, would the police and State Security Service (SSS) assist the state to enforce the law? The only time Nigerians have seen police go out of their way to apprehend kidnappers are when very high government officials are involved. Every other time, the victims are left until either their kidnappers are tired or when ransom had been paid.

In the last six years in other states where the law is in operation, they are yet to arrest, arraign or put suspects on trial for kidnapping, much more obtaining conviction. Also, in spite of the laws in these states, kidnapping and other forms adoption have continued to be a business that is booming.

Another challenge likely envisaged in the effort of Oshiomhole to tackle the menace of kidnapping is the slow space of the country’s judicial process. They argued that a situation where a simple case would drag for years before it is concluded would not only spur the criminals, but emboldens them to continue to perpetrate their nefarious activities.

Besides, in a country where it takes a minimum of 15 years to pursue a case to the Supreme Court, many analysts are wondering if many of the suspects or convicts whose appeals are at the higher courts would not have escaped justice.
Other pundits believe that the law enforcement agents themselves could after all be behind the frequent kidnapping in the country. The pundits wonder how they could be tracked down if that is the situation.

To show that Oshiomhole is really determined to stem the spate of the criminality in the state, after assenting to the law, he met with stakeholders in the state at a town hall meeting to discuss how to bring the menace to an end. The governor said the state government in conjunction with security agencies waslooking into the option of re-introducing checkpoints in strategic areas of the state.

“We have to reconsider the reintroduction of road blocks in the state because we discovered that each time people are kidnapped here they are always rescued in Delta State where you have so many road blocks. Our roads here are very free and that is why these criminals get away with a lot of things,” he said.

He also appealed to members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in the state to drop their threats not to defend any suspected kidnapper standing trials following the kidnap of a High Court judge, adding that the NBA should have a rethink in order not to jeopardise the law on kidnapping which he signed into law recently.
He said: “the bar and the bench must also help to ensure that this law we passed succeeds by avoiding endless adjournments. If we all agree to carry out accelerated hearing, it will be better for us.

"We understood the sentiments of the NBA which led to the decision not to defend those facing trial on kidnapping," warning that such decision would work in favour of the kidnappers and not the state or victims.
According to him, “There is no doubt that we are all worried with the activities of these criminals, but if we decide that you will not defend kidnappers, we should also remember that under our law, criminals are entitled to legal representation and if any criminal cannot afford one the state will provide for the person. So if you don’t defend them it means that we will never convict any kidnapper in the state.

“The court must prove beyond reasonable doubts that a person is a kidnapper, our laws says one is innocent until proven guilty. So I want to appeal that we reconsider your decision on that so that the law on kidnapping will benefit our people."
From the various responses, participants at the meeting thanked the governor for signing the anti-kidnapping bill into law and asked him to revive the Neighbourhood Watch, a local security outfit for proper surveillance.
Reacting to the new law in Edo State, a Port Harcourt-based social affairs commentator, Mr. Chiazor Agokei, noted that a common trend in kidnapping in the country is the inability of the police to bring to book the perpetrators of the crime. He wondered why the country would not continue to breed criminals when nothing is done to them.

“Nigeria is one country I know in the whole wide world where people commit crimes and are not punished. We are in a country where people inflict pains on others and go scot-free and because nothing is done to the perpetrators of the crime, they enjoy it and continue to do more. The Inspector- General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubkar must get cracking immediately and go after the perpetrators of heinous crimes. Failure to do this will further strengthen the belief that the Nigerian state condones terrorism against its own citizens and can therefore not justifiably make its case for Nigeria's de-listing from the Terror Watch-List.

“Our police officers are corrupt to such an extent that most times the names, addresses and phone numbers of people who gave useful information about crimes or acted as informants to the police, end up in the hands of the criminals these people acted as informants or gave police information about.  Take for instance, that there was no call from anybody volunteering information about seeing strange men around Funsho's home or near that vicinity must have looked weird to the British Police. They might have made some enquiries as intelligent people that they are and found out that the average Nigerian will only give information to the police over their dead body,”  he said.

lifestyle 11:04:00 AM