By Mohammed Danlami
The Senate has intensified efforts to curb rising insecurity through Amendment to Terrorism Act amendments to the 2022 Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act that would designate kidnapping and hostage-taking as acts of terrorism and impose the death penalty on offenders, their sponsors and informants.
The debate on the bill, led by Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, drew broad bipartisan support, with Senators Adams Oshiomhole, Orji Uzor Kalu and Minority Leader Abba Moro among those backing tougher sanctions. Presiding, Senate President Godswill Akpabio referred the bill to the Committees on Judiciary, National Security and Interior, directing them to report back within two weeks.
Bamidele said the amendment seeks to reflect the realities of kidnapping, which he described as now “coordinated, commercialised and militarised” and carried out by organised criminal networks nationwide. He argued that the scale of violence, ranging from mass abductions to ransom-funded proliferation of arms, meets the threshold of terrorism.
He warned that kidnapping has inflicted widespread fear, disrupted schooling and farming, devastated families forced to pay ransom, drained economic productivity and overstretched security agencies. “It is no longer adequate to treat these acts as ordinary offences. The legal framework must reflect the true magnitude of the threat,” he said.
Under the bill, perpetrators, financiers, informants, logistics providers, harbourers, transporters and anyone who knowingly aids kidnapping would face the death penalty. Attempt, conspiracy or incitement would attract the same sanction. Bamidele said this strong deterrent is necessary to dismantle kidnapping networks and empower security agencies with broader counter-terrorism tools, including asset tracing, intelligence-led operations and disruption of funding channels.
He added that Nigerians are abducted in homes, schools, farms, markets and highways, and often tortured or killed even after ransom is paid. “This is terrorism in its purest form,” he said, stressing that the bill targets criminals, not communities, and still guarantees due process.
Oshiomhole supported the bill and criticised deradicalisation initiatives, claiming many beneficiaries returned to crime. “If you are caught and convicted for acts of terrorism, the penalty should be death,” he said.
Kalu said Nigerians had endured unbearable suffering, citing rape, killings and mass displacement. Moro called the bill a unanimous Senate position, urging swift passage.
Senator Victor Umeh also condemned the brutality of kidnapping gangs and called for deeper scrutiny of facilitators, including financial institutions.
