HELP! MY NATION’S WISDOM HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED
The intelligence of a people is measured by different metrics, its culture and the subsequent evolution of said culture is one such metric. Innovations as technology and advancement is another but none quite like its laws. The regulative register of any civil society is the foundation upon which all other metrics are formed. Can culture be progressive if its laws forbid it? Can a society birth innovative technology if its laws prohibit such? It is only fitting to declare that the ultimate measure of a polity’s erudition are the instruments which constitute its laws. The prime instrument which constitute laws in any contemporary civil society is its body of government; iterated as the legislature, judicature and the executive. Of the aforementioned three arms of government, the executive has a more or less passive role to play in the formation of laws. The others have a greater role, but of the two arms the legislature is the arm which civil society has charged with the mandate to conjure the guiding principles of our daily lives within the geographic boundaries that constitute such civil society. Setting our limits ironically to protect freedom for all and devising commensurate punitive measures in the event such limits are violated/crossed.
That said, one can infer that the primary function of the legislature is not just to conjure laws but to also REPRESENT the larger populace in the polity. Thus; when thoughtless laws are passed, whose intellect does the legislature ‘represent’? The people? The majority of the people? Or just the minority individuals in plenary? If the answer be the people, then make an exception for me. If you wish to join my wagon of preclusion from thoughtlessness, be not hasty to imbibe or dispel. We must first determine what ‘thoughtlessness’ is. What better way to scrutinize the fundamental meaning of ‘thoughtlessness’ — both in lexicology and ideology — than to invoke an illustration, an anecdote if you will. This anecdote will be of interest to all that are Nigerian in stake or descent. The current composition of the legislative arm of our great federation, Nigeria, recently deliberated and debated over the crime of kidnapping and what the fitting punitive measure should be. It was hardly a debate as they quickly arrived at a consensus, capital punishment. In the mind of the democratic legislator, capital punishment should be the last resort and not a quick fix.
Is kidnapping a heinous and despicable crime? Affirmative. Should it be curbed through ‘appropriate means’? Affirmative. Is it a crime that has plagued our great polity for years even prior to the birth of many in our populace? Affirmative. What also holds true is that a brisk tongue is no indication of wisdom, most certainly not the kind of wisdom expected of an erudite legislator/legislature. Shall we resort to the death penalty for ALL crimes? There is a reason it is not so quickly prescribed in all progressive societies globally. The punitive feature of laws is not so much aimed at heaping woes on a violator as it is aimed at rehabilitating any would be violator. Hence; it is no surprise that the contemporary moniker for certain prisons is “correctional facility”. Laws are designed to be every bit corrective and rehabilitative as it is punitive.
Whilst kidnapping can by no means be condoned, it can however be understood. Kidnapping is a bastard child of the socio-economic disenfranchisement of the youth. An apoplectic reaction to the ruling and political class. It is therefore unsurprising that the High Value Targets of kidnappers and their activities are in fact the political class. Many an event proves this true. And the troubling but fortunately peacefully resolved case of the abduction of Iyabo Anisulowo a former Minister of State for Eduction and Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria does little to waylay my argument. One might thus; be forgiven for inferring that the senators are not performing their primary duty of ‘representing’ the interest of the people when they reach a concord that death is commensurate penance for the crime of kidnapping. They are out to save their own skins and so ensure that personal interests in this case — as in many times past — trump public interests. Having sitting members in the National Assembly who themselves have been victims of kidnapping will no doubt have made this issue one of top priority in leisurely discourse with their colleagues. Only to come to plenary to act out their consensus reached behind closed doors.
Kidnapping is a symptom of a sick society. Both a testament to socio-economic marginalization of the middle and lower classes and evidence of the meager provisions for domestic and civil security agencies to combat abductions of any kind. The ruling class ought to answer the far and nigh-cries of the disenfranchised and the poorly equipped security operative. The legislators being experts at legislating must well be truly aware that the judicature while acting in good faith can only prescribe judgement predicated on available evidence even if such evidence has been tinkered with. Leaving a tiny possibility for innocents to be convicted of wrongdoing. Same way false accusations of kidnapping may arise with compelling but tinkered evidence. Will the legislature then be willing to risk capital punishment for innocents accused and convicted of the crime of kidnapping? It is precisely because of this possibility of an error in judgement that the Vatican and many activist groups have been seeking to abolish the death penalty. Proving again that the actions of the Nigerian Senate are both counterproductive and retrogressive.
As of the time of this publication, the bill in question has not yet received the assent of the president. However, if it does it will be a terrible blow to humanity and humanism. One might say that a law abiding citizen should have no trepidation over this bill, I will quickly reiterate the possibility of an erroneous judgement in light of a false accusation to such a person. While the odds are tremendously low that a law abiding citizen will fall victim to such an erroneous judgement, we must be wary of setting a dangerous precedence for the handling of equally delicate subjects in the future. Such a precedent was set by Governor Ajimobi when he unwittingly gave assent to a similar bill-legalizing the death penalty for kidnappers-in Oyo State, over which his jurisdiction extends. I’ll urge President BUHARI to tow the path of Governor Wike of Rivers State and detour from capital punishment while imposing stricter penance for kidnappers, only then should he give his assent. Shall we now revisit the postulation that a legislature is a representation of the average intelligence quotient of the larger polity? I believe there is sufficient evidence to say “Au Contraire”. I believe the aforementioned anecdote is sufficient depiction of deplorable thoughtlessness. Now I urge you to join me in preclusion from those whose interests the Nigerian legislature currently represents.
