Senate bill proposing death penalty for kidnapping, hostage-taking passes second reading

A bill proposing the death penalty for kidnapping and hostage-taking offences has passed second reading at the Senate during a plenary session on Wednesday presided over by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

The bill, sponsored by Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele, seeks to classify all kidnapping-related offences as acts of terrorism and prescribes the death penalty without the option of fines or alternative sentences. Lawmakers said the measure is part of ongoing efforts to amend the country’s terrorism laws.

On the urgency of the matter, Senate President Akpabio said that the bill should move quickly through the legislative process. He stated, “It’s something we fast-track to go for public hearing and thereafter concordance. Because in reality, everything you are saying here, you must say it at a public hearing and then prohibit it in order to suit the situation of today.”

During the session, Akpabio conducted a voice vote, asking senators to express their support. “My distinguished colleagues, those who support this bill are now read a second time to say hi and those against say nay. The ‘Hi’s have it,” he said.

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He formally presented the content of the bill, explaining that it aims to amend the Anti-Terrorism Act to designate kidnapping and related offences as acts of terrorism. Reading the main proposal, he said: “I bid for an Act to amend the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act to designate kidnapping, hostage-taking and related offenses as acts of terrorism to prescribe death penalty for such offenses without option of fine or alternative sentences and for related matters.”

He also read the bill’s formal title for clarity: “This is a bill for an act to amend the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act to designate kidnapping, hostage-taking, and later offenses as acts of terrorism to prescribe death penalty for such offenses without the option of fine or alternative sentences and for later matters 2025.”

After the second reading, the bill was referred to the Committee on Judicial, Human Rights, and Legal Matters, with support from the Committees on National Security and Interior. The committees were directed to report back within two weeks.

The bill’s first reading was conducted on 27 November 2025, a day after lawmakers resolved to classify kidnapping as terrorism. It passed first reading following majority support in a voice vote.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE