Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State on Monday signed two
bills into law in the presence of stakeholders who thronged the seat of
government.
The two bills are; ‘Open grazing prohibition and ranches
establishment law, 2017 and ‘Adoption, hostage taking, kidnapping, secret cult
and other related offense, 2017.
The Adoption, hostage taking, kidnapping, secret cult and
other related offenses law stipulates stiffer punishment for offenders and
gives more power to law enforcements agents.
According to the highlights of the kidnapping and hostage
taking law stipulates that anyone whose house is used for unlawful detention
and kidnapping if found guilty is liable to the death sentence.
Anyone found guilty of hostage taking on conviction will
earn ten years jail term while anyone tried for an act of terrorism and found
guilty will be liable to 14 years.
Anyone whose premises are used for taken hostage, such
property will be forfeited to the government, also any threat to person on
kidnapping is liable to seven years.
Detonation of explosive instrument will attract five years
while anyone found to be a member of a secret cult is liable to 10 years
without an option of fine.
The new law also stipulates that any public office holders
who sponsor kidnapping and found liable will be removed from office and risk
three years in jail, it also added that anyone in possession of illegal
firearms in state will and upon conviction be jailed for three years while
whoever aids cultism is also liable to three years jail term.
The new anti-grazing law stipulates that anyone who engages
in open grazing in Benue State and on conviction will now be liable for five
years imprisonment.
It also provides that anyone who engages in cattle rustling
shall be liable on conviction for imprisonment of a term not less than three
years or payment of one hundred thousand per animal or both.
In the case of open grazing or rearing of live stocks, the
law provides that anyone who contravenes the law shall be guilty of an offense
and such person on conviction is liable to five-year imprisonment and a fine of
one million naira or both.
The law also stipulates that no individual or group shall
after the commencement of this law, engage in open nomadic livestock, herding
or grazing in the state outside the permitted ranches.
The new law provides for monetary compensation in case of
any damage to a property and imprisonment of two years of the livestock owner
or manager in case of injury to any person in the state.
“Where such contravention causes the death of any person within the state, the owner or manager of such livestock shall be guilty of an offense of culpable homicide punishable under the penal code law”.
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com