By Henry Obetta

IN response to rising security threats across the country, the Senate has taken a series of steps aimed at strengthening internal peace and stability. Central to these efforts is a move to classify kidnapping as an act of terrorism and to prescribe the death penalty for kidnappers, their financiers and informants. The past two weeks have been intense at the National Assembly.

Lawmakers were driven by two concerns. The first was the surge in kidnappings and related crimes in several states. The second was the search for firm legislative measures to reinforce national security. The Senate anchored its actions on the belief that clear laws are needed to guide security agencies as they confront the crisis. A wave of abductions in Maga in Kebbi State, Papiri in Niger State, and Eruku in Kwara State underscored the urgency.

These incidents alone involved 313 victims, including about 250 schoolgirls. Some have since regained their freedom, but the Senate argued that the scale of the crimes demanded stronger statutory tools. Senate Measures As part of its response, the Senate dissolved the Committees on Air Force and on National Security and Intelligence. Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, described both committees as ineffective in their oversight responsibilities. Senators across party lines unanimously endorsed the decision.

The Senate also directed its Committees on Army, Navy, Defence, Interior and Police Affairs to submit detailed activity reports within two weeks. Bamidele said the reports would show what each committee had done to address insecurity and whether they should continue in their current form. In the same spirit, the request from the President for the screening of the Minister of Defence nominee, General Christopher Musa, was taken up immediately. Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, said the chamber could not afford any delay in matters affecting national safety.

Amendment bill The Senate’s most far-reaching intervention was the introduction of a bill to amend the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022. Sponsored by Bamidele, the bill enjoyed broad support from lawmakers who argued that it would fill critical gaps in Nigeria’s counter-terrorism framework. Bamidele identified three main objectives of the amendment. The first is the formal designation of kidnapping, hostage-taking and similar offences as acts of terrorism. He said the classification would give security agencies wider operational authority and access to additional intelligence and prosecutorial tools.

The second objective is the introduction of maximum punitive measures. Unlike the current law, the proposed amendment recommends the death penalty for kidnappers and hostage-takers. The third extends the same penalty to logistics providers, financiers, informants, harbourers and transporters who knowingly support kidnapping operations. According to Bamidele, the bill will help law enforcement agencies dismantle kidnapping networks by enabling stronger enforcement, improved inter-agency coordination, asset tracing, and quicker pre-trial procedures under terrorism law.

He argued that the brutality displayed by kidnappers, the torture of victims, the payment of ransoms and the reinvestment of proceeds into further criminal operations have elevated kidnapping from ordinary crime to terrorism. He said any offence that repeatedly causes mass fear, mass displacement and systemic disruption requires the strongest legal sanction. Deradicalisation Some lawmakers used the debate to challenge the effectiveness of the government’s deradicalisation programme for extremist and terrorist suspects. Senator Adams Oshiomhole led the criticism, claiming that many “repentant” terrorists had returned to their old activities.

He said releasing offenders in the name of rehabilitation had not reduced violent extremism and instead created a sense of injustice. Oshiomhole argued that the nation could not continue to spend resources on prosecuting terrorists only for them to avoid meaningful consequences. He called for capital punishment and urged the Senate to outlaw deradicalisation programmes for those convicted of terrorism-related offences.

Senator Orji Uzor Kalu supported this view, citing the suffering of victims across regions. He said kidnappers and their collaborators must face the full weight of the law, noting that many families had endured rape, murder and severe emotional trauma. New regime Minority Leader Abba Moro captured the overall sentiment of the chamber, arguing that the moment required a security regime built on firm consequences rather than pardon. He urged a swift passage of the bill.

Obetta writes from Lagos.