Following its determination to stem the tide of kidnapping in the state, the Ekiti State government has forwarded a bill seeking life imprisonment for individuals convicted of kidnapping to the state House of Assembly.
The proposed anti-kidnapping law was one of the decisions reached on Friday at the State Executive Council.
The council meeting was presided over by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Kolapo Olusola.
According to the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Owoseni Ajayi, who briefed newsmen at the end of the meeting, the proposed law would halt the trend of kidnapping which reached an alarming proportion in the state between May and June.
Ajayi said the law also proposed that all moveable properties used by the abductors would be confiscated by the state government.
According to him, the state government views the act of kidnapping as a serious social menace that must be discouraged and curtailed using a heavy penalty that would discourage perpetrators and their collaborators before it gets out of hand.
The Attorney General also hinted on the decision of the state government to review the tenure of local government officials from three to two years in order to enhance more effective participatory governance at the grassroots, adding that the establishment of the Office of Public Defenders was also considered to enable the indigents with criminal cases have access to fair hearing by providing legal representation for them.
Ajayi said all the bills were ready and would be sent to the Ekiti State House of Assembly in earnest for deliberation and passage into laws.
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