Death penalty for Nigerian terrorists

The Nigerian Senate on Friday said it adopted the death penalty as punishment for acts of terrorism due to Nigeria’s peculiar circumstances.

The National Assembly on Thursday approved the death penalty for acts of terrorism in Nigeria following the recommendations contained in a conference committee report of both houses.

The spokesman of the Senate, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in a telephone interview, that the choice of the death penalty was informed by the existing situation in the country.

“This is Nigeria and we are going to do laws based on extant things happening in our country. We cannot afford to use what is done in other countries to resolve our peculiarities. “So we are adopting this amendment to address the problem that is peculiar to Nigeria,’’ Abaribe said.

Senator Victor Lar (PDP-Plateau), who is also a member of the committee, also told NAN on telephone, that the earlier recommendation of life imprisonment was too lenient for such a crime. Thoughts???