If the current Criminal Code Bill is assented into law by the President, kidnappers will now spend the rest of their lives in jail.
The Senate on Tuesday raised the 10 year jail term for kidnap offenders to life imprisonment as it passed a Bill for an Act to amend the Criminal Code Act 2004.
The piece of legislation, if assented into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, will broaden the definition of rape and sexual offences.
Amendment to Section 357 of the principal Act, specifically substitutes the words ‘woman or girl, without her consent, or with her consent’, with the words, ‘any person, without consent, or with consent’.
The bill also seeks to protect mentally challenged persons from sexual defilement and rape through an amendment to section 221 of the principal Act.
Attempt by Senator Uche Ekwunife to effect an amendment to section 357 to define persons susceptible to rape to accommodate “married and unmarried persons” was rejected by lawmakers during the clause-by-clause consideration of the bill.
Speaking, Chairman of the Committee, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, in his lead debate on the bill, said the legislation “will address the lingering issues of status of limitation in the prosecution of rape/defilement cases and the incessant kidnapping menace, which are on the rise, in recent times.”
