By IFEOMA AKA

Some lawmakers at the Enugu State House of Assembly have opposed the bill for a law to criminalise the payment of ransom to kidnappers in the state.

The bill to amend the 2004 Criminal Code Law, when enacted, would ensure that anybody who pays ransom for the release of a kidnapped victim is jailed for 15 years.

Leading a debate during the plenary on Tuesday in Enugu, the Leader of the House, Mr. Iloabuchi Aniagu, said that criminalising payment of ransom had become important, as criminals had turned it to a lucrative business.

Aniagu argued that stopping people from paying the ransom would make kidnapping to die a natural death, stressing that ransom is the lifewire of the kidnapping.

Also contributing, Mr Chima Obieze, representing Ezeagu Constituency, said that kidnappers would stop kidnapping business once the people stop or no longer willing to the pay the outrageous ransom.

Obieze alleged that some security personnel, including police and military officers were involved in the kidnappings going on in the state.

Subsequently, Mr Malachi Onyechi representing Nsukka West Constituency, disagreed with the bill, noting that the people paid ransom because of the ineffectiveness of the security personnel to rescue kidnapped victims.

According to him, the security in the country have not lived up to the constitutional responsibilities, so this is not the best time to amend the Criminal Code Law.

In his submission, Mr Harrison Ogara representing Igbo-Eze South Constituency, said while he supported that government should not negotiate with kidnappers, extending such to individual was not a welcomed development.

According to Ogara, the amendment is not timely considering that there is no adequate police officers to police the country let alone the State.

“In Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area, there are only 32 police officers,”

Also, Mr Osita Okoh representing Enugu East Urban constituency warned that amending the Criminal Code Law would promote and worsen the case of kidnapping in the state.

Okoh revealed that families of those kidnapped from Nike were usually directed to pay ransom at Akpatu in Udi LGA, noting that people paid ransom to kidnappers to avoid them from dying at the kidnapper’s den.

He called for the stepping down of the bill to enable its drafter to expunge sections that would cause problem for the citizens of the state who wanted to save the lives of their loved ones.

In the same vein, the Speaker of the assembly, Chief Uche Ugwu, overruled the motion to step down the bill, but directed the House Committees on Economic Development, Youths and Security as well as Judiciary to critically look into the bill.

Ugwu asked the Committees to submit their report to the House in the next one week. (NAN)

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