Kidnappers operating in Rivers State will now face the death penalty as the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, is set to sign into law a bill instituting death penalty for kidnapping.
This is coming on the heels of a lamentation by the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Mike Okiro, to the effect that the activities of militants and other felons have adversely affected the Rivers State economy, urging stakeholders in the state to “frontally confront the menace and rescue the land and its people.”
Meantime, in Abuja, the Police authority, at the weekend, carried out a departmental (orderly room) trial of seven officers who, according to intelligence reports, met and conspired to instigate the planned strike of junior police officers nationwide last January, over poor remunerations, including non-promotions and indications are that they would be dismissed from service.
The Rivers state House of Assembly is presently working on a bill that is expected to make kidnapping a capital offence punishable by death to curb the spate of kidnappings in the State.
Amaechi spoke at the weekend while addressing senior security officers of the rank of Deputy Commissioners of Police or its equivalent, drawn from all the security agencies at the Institute of Security Studies in Abuja.
Amaechi, whose speech was on “The Challenges of Resource Control: Agitation and Criminality in the Niger Delta Region”, told his audience that kidnapping will soon carry the death penalty as it is not different from armed robbery which also attracts the death penalty.
“I said the other day, we’ll pass a law and the law is still being worked on at the state legislature that anybody who kidnaps, I’m afraid, may have to face the death penalty. What is armed robbery? When you take away material things from someone with the use of force. And what is kidnapping? Using force to take away human beings. So why should the punishment for armed robbery be death and the other is not? This is why I told the House of Assembly that kidnapping should be made to attract the death penalty.”
Okiro laments effect of militants’ activities
However, the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro has tasked the people of Rivers State to frontally confront the menace of militancy and rescue the land and its people. He gave the challenge while receiving the representatives of the Port Harcourt Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture who visited him in Abuja.
He said the time has come for the indigenes of Rivers State to confront the virus frontally and take the bull by the horns.
Okiro, who expressed deep concern on the account of deteriorating state of Port Harcourt, berated the militants and restive youths whose activities have jeopardised developments efforts to improve the lot of the people.
Speaking through his Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Emmanuel Ojukwu, in a statement issued yesterday, Okiro lamented the frustration of government efforts to dualise the East-West road, the kidnapping of workers, the building of bridges to open up rural areas and the threat to the lives of workers in the power sector.
These disturbing activities, according to him have led to capital flight and the relocation of industries from Rivers State, noting, “the end result is the total collapse of hospitality industry, unemployment and mass poverty.”
The police Chief, who hailed from Rivers State, sought the cooperation of the organised private sector towards re-orientation of the people and the inculcation of entrepreneurial skills in women and youths in the region to arrest the ugly trend.
Junior Police officers threaten strike
On January 25, this year, a group of junior police officers allegedly met at the ‘Liberation Hall’ of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba, Ondo State, where they resolved that junior police officers would go on strike within two weeks if their demands for better working conditions including promotions, payment of allowances and improved remunerations were not met.
To make the authorities meet up with this demand, the officers operating under the aegis: ‘Concerned Junior Police Officers’ issued press releases of their demands and printed leaflets which they distributed to back up their action.
Vanguard gathered yesterday that the seven Police officers, among them 5 Sergeants and 2 Corporals who are all graduates, were arrested from the Ogun State Police Command a fortnight ago and taken to Abuja where they were investigated.
During investigation, it was discovered that almost all the Police officers gained entry into the force using ‘O’ level or WAEC certificates but furthered their education while in service and got degrees. One of the officers, a corporal was discovered to have joined the Police, using his ‘O’ level certificate while he was already a graduate.
The action of the junior officers caused unease among the Police hierarchy, the Ministry of Police Affairs and the Police Service Commission with the Inspector-General of Police warning that any such action by any group of Police officers would be met with relevant punishment according to law.
Consequently, a high powered probe panel was set up led by a Commissioner of Police to investigate the matter and following its investigations, the seven policemen were identified as the brains behind the strike plot.
During interrogation, Vanguard gathered that the seven officers pointed accusing fingers at their superior officers saying they were being witch-hunted and are victims of ethnic and religious persecution as they knew nothing about the police strike. Investigations has however since proved otherwise.
The report of the investigations has already been forwarded to the Inspector-General of police, Mike Okiro with a recommendation for their dismissal which is in line with the Police Act.