Hon. Kanmi Ajibola, the member representing Oriade State Constituency in the Osun State House of Assembly, has written to the leadership of the National Assembly, requesting that the death sentence be used as a punishment for corruption.
Ajibola, in a five-page letter to Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas, copies of which were obtained in Osogbo on Friday, stated that the country’s level of corruption necessitates the inclusion of capital punishment in Nigeria’s anti-graft laws.
The former Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ilesa Branch, decried the massive resources the country has lost to corruption, claiming that if such funds had been properly used, Nigeria would not be grappling with an infrastructure deficit.
Citing Sections 4(1) and (3) of the Constitution, the lawyer said it was within the purview of the National Assembly to make laws that would help the country halt corrupt practices among its citizens.
He said that Nigeria’s anti-corruption laws and acts in their current forms are ineffective, necessitating the implementation of capital punishment.
The letter partly read, “As a human rights activist, I should not be thinking of capital punishment to curb or drastically minimise corruption in Nigeria, but for the fact that the acts of the few leaders that are corrupt are leading to the death of their innocent subjects, I think this is the only way and the hard way.
“It is an axiomatic fact that if this stealing spree continually persists unchecked, the country will ultimately end up in an untimely grave. To prevent the sudden and untimely death of Nigeria, the 1999 Constitution empowered the National Assembly with the responsibility to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the federation.
“At this very moment, before corruption kills Nigeria, it is desirable that Nigeria move faster to kill corruption. The incumbent leadership of the National Assembly can be the Moses and Musa of the present Nigerian generation by removing the country from the death trap of corruption and its killing venom.
“Due to the non-availability of effective laws to checkmate corruption the way it should be properly checked, there is a loss of peace, order, good governance, and good government in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“That Nigeria may continue to live, there is a compelling need for the prevailing public corruption to be curbed and controlled by capital punishment in our laws.
“Within the thirty days of the receipt of this letter, I plead with the National Assembly to perform this public duty to save Nigeria by introducing the penalty clause of capital punishment into our anti-corruption laws and acts.”
