Apply anti-kidnapping law with caution, don warns Lagos

A former National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Lai Olorode, has advised the Lagos State Government to exercise caution in the application of its new anti-kidnapping law.
Olorode told the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday that the law could end up convicting innocent individuals, adding that capital punishment has not been very effective in curbing crime.
The former INEC commissioner spoke against the backdrop of the new Anti-Kidnapping Law in Lagos that prescribed death penalty for kidnappers.
Olorode said: “I don’t think it is the final solution but of course society is worried, everybody is afraid of it but whether government response is adequate or going to be sufficient enough or it’s a panicky measure or an ad-hoc measure is another thing.
“The reason why in the advanced countries of the world capital punishment was abolished and why I don’t think it will work in Lagos state and some other states that has responded to the kidnapping crime by the imposition of capital punishment.
“Is because long after somebody have been killed for being involved in capital punishment or armed robbery, new evidence may show that the person was not guilty of the offence for which he had been convicted.
“And the person who have been killed, you cannot right the wrong again you will not be able to go and wake up the person in his grave.
“So that is why it requires meticulous process. It requires being careful, being painstaking about the truth and weighing evidence to be sure that the wrong person is not going to be made to face capital punishment.”