Senate passes bill prescribing life imprisonment for kidnappers

During plenary on Tuesday, the Senate passed a bill that prescribes life imprisonment for kidnappers as against the current 10 years maximum sentence.

The bill contains amendments to the criminal code which is currently in operation in the southern part of Nigeria.

The proposed legislation, sponsored by Senator Oluremi Tinubu, is titled, “A bill for an Act to amend the Criminal Code Act CAP. C.38, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2004.”

It seeks to delete the statute of limitation on defilement, increase punishment for the offence of kidnapping, and remove gender restrictions in the offence of rape and other related matters.

The bill eliminates the time frame for prosecuting defilement cases by increasing the period from two months to as many years as the victim decides to take up the manner.

It also removes gender restrictions on the offence of rape by explaining that both males and females could be raped.