Senate Declares Kidnapping As Terrorism, Pushes Death Penalty

The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday escalated its stance on insecurity, passing a landmark resolution categorising kidnapping as a form of terrorism and calling for urgent amendments to the Terrorism Act to enforce the strictest possible punishment for offenders.

During the heated plenary session, lawmakers agreed that any individual convicted of kidnapping must face the death penalty once the Terrorism Act is revised.

A senior source in the chamber confirmed that the resolution explicitly demands punitive certainty, stating, “upon conviction for kidnapping, the death penalty must be enforced.”

“The resolution mandates that, on conviction for kidnapping, the death penalty must be automatic and enforced,” the Nigerian Senate insisted during proceedings.

The Senate’s resolution comes amid relentless cases of banditry, mass abductions, and ransom-driven operations particularly across forest corridors linking northern states, where gunmen move freely, strike schools, highways, farms and communities, overwhelming local security outfits.

Lawmakers lamented that kidnapping rings have grown into organised networks with terror-like tactics, using threats, psychological warfare, negotiations, and sporadic killings to intimidate populations — hallmarks, they argued, consistent with terrorism.

One senator noted that the country is facing an unchecked industry of abduction, warning that “kidnappers now operate like an alternative government, testing the nation’s resolve daily.”

Senators emphasised that the resolution was crafted to crush the business model of mass kidnapping, reclaim governance authority from terror networks, restore fear into criminal camps and protect vulnerable communities and highways.

Lawmakers added that the move is meant to deliver deterrence, describing it as the loudest legislative warning ever issued to kidnap syndicates.

The security debate concluded with lawmakers agreeing that justice can no longer afford delays, doubts, or opt-in punishments.

With senators nodding across aisles, one declared: “Nobody is bigger than the institution, and no criminal is bigger than justice.”

The chamber assured that further legislative framework revisions, sentencing codification, and inter-agency enforcement structuring will be initiated within the week.

The Senate directed that subsequent amendments must fast-track prosecution, conviction and sentencing architecture, ensuring that no merchant of terror dressed as kidnapping mastermind walks away to strike again.