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Advocates death sentence against criminals to end insecurity
By Ikechukwu Okaforadi
The Director General of Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), Salihu Lukman, has said Nigeria cannot succeed in the war against kidnapping and banditry without strong synergy between the federal and State governments.
He also said banditry and kidnapping cannot succeed in any part of Nigeria without the collaboration of community and religious leaders, calling for stiffer penalties, such as death sentence, against the criminals and their collaborators.
In a statement he issued yesterday in Abuja, Lukman, who coordinates the PGF; an umbrella union of Governors elected on All Progressives Congress (APC) platform, said also that the time does not call for divisive narratives, urging leaders of APC at the federating levels to jointly carry the burden of national unity.
Lukeman, who was reacting over the controversy arising from the Quit Notice, allegedly issued against the herdsmen in the Ondo Forest Reserve by the State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, said also that the time spent on defending ethnic representations would have been lost to proffer solution to dealing with kidnapping and banditry, which he said would have embolden and shielded the criminals and their collaborators.
According to the statement titled ‘Caution on Divisive Campaigns and National Security Challenges’, Lukman said “Nigerians need to wake up to the reality that preventing or arresting criminal activities such as kidnapping and banditry cannot be achieved by massaging our ethnic and religious sentiments.
“These are criminal activities that can hardly succeed without the collaboration of community and religious leaders. In fact, there are also strong allegations of even collaboration of security officials. We therefore need to forge stronger national unity in the country to be able to initiate the kind of reforms, which can produce the expected outcomes.
“In addition to forging stronger national unity, we should include the issue of stiffer sanctions for both the criminals and their collaborators, much more than what is provided in our current laws. There is no reason why we should not consider the introduction of death penalties for both the criminals and their collaborators, for instance.”
In addition, he said the issue is about responding to a national challenge facing the unity and development of the country, hence leaders must exercise restraint when making public statements.
Explaining further, he said if a statement is made, which potentially breaches provisions of Nigeria’s constitution, any statement capable of activating national fault lines must be avoided.
According to him, “When we need to correct possible challenges arising from statements issued by our leaders, it mustn’t be a case of double jeopardy. Two wrongs will never make a right.
“At all times, our leaders and all of us, must carry the burden of national unity such that statements and proposals for reforms should inspire Nigerians to respect each other and recognise the incontestability of supporting initiatives from every part of the country in order to prevent or arrest crime, no matter its strength. As our party manifesto rightly emphasised, ‘It is no longer a question of choice but of will and courage!’
“Somehow, it is almost impossible to avoid asking the question whether both politically and legally, other agencies of government shouldn’t have stepped in to resolve the issue?
“Partly, because of the strong campaigns for restructuring in the country, the temptation is to argue that this is another proof why our constitution is faulty and only restructuring can correct it. In this particular case, we as citizens, are the problem. All the debate going on now, has nothing to do with the provisions of the constitution or any law of the federation. Rather, it is all about our fabricated mindsets.
“As a believer and campaigner for restructuring based on the need to make our governments functionally responsive, the challenge that reduced reform initiatives of governments to problems of activating our fault lines is simply a reflection of the inability of government officials – elected and appointed – to discharge their responsibilities without fear or favour as provided in the provisions of our constitutions and other statutes.
While it is possible that initiatives are already taking place to resolve the issue between Ondo State government and Federal Government, to the extent that rather than announcements of resolutions of how initiatives to prevent and arrest crimes are hardly the case, confirms high degree of weakness in addressing national challenges.
“Instead, most of the public debate is about which group we want to support. Is there any Nigerian today who is not disturbed by the high rate of kidnapping, banditry and similar crimes? Such a Nigerian is either directly or remotely involved in kidnapping, banditry and all the crimes taking place”, he said.
