I Will Sign Kidnappers’ Death Warrant – Dickson
Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson, on Monday, said he would not hesitate to sign death warrants of convicted abductors.
The governor’s position came a few hours after the abduction of Festus and Ebiye Ebegu, the parents of Ogbia Local Government Area Chairman, Richard, from their Oloibiri country home.
Dickson stated this while inaugurating members of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry on Agbere communal crisis, promising to send a bill to that effect to the state House of Assembly.
The governor stated this in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson.
He said the bill would seek to amend the 2012 prohibition of secret cult, kidnapping and other related vices law passed by the state House of Assembly.
The governor said, “We have made it very clear that wherever there is any breach of the peace and breakdown of law and order, this government will use all its resources and authority to ensure that the right thing is done and people are brought to book.”
According to him, any traditional ruler caught aiding and abetting kidnapping and other related vices will be dealt with in accordance with the law.
He said the proposed bill was important to forestall further disruption of government’s developmental projects.
He urged youths to shun criminality and take advantage of government’s policies and programmes to empower themselves.
He added, “Let me also use this occasion to sound a clear note of warning in this state. We thought we were through with kidnappings in this state, but just one incident of kidnapping is bad enough for us.
“We have a situation where we have an ambitious programme of infrastructural turnaround of the state because there is work going on in every community of the state and it will be so for quite some time, therefore we do not want to tolerate even one case of kidnapping of anybody.
“We are aware that if this trend is not checked, those who do not wish this state well will easily use that to foment crisis, scare investors, give our state a continuous bad name and stall our development”.
The governor, however, charged the commission to unravel the causes of the Agbere communal crisis and to identify the principal actors and their sponsors.
He also asked the commission to determine the extent of damage to property and loss of human lives that resulted from the incident.
He appealed to the commission to make necessary recommendations on measures to ensure sanity in the communities.
Source: Legit.ng
