Cosmas Ekpunobi
17 September 2008
Lagos — Senate moved yesterday to criminalize organized violence and acts of terrorism as the bill which prescribed a minimum of 20 year jail term for person engaged in organized crime passed through second reading in the Upper House.
The move came barely 24 hours after the Movement For the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) was reported to have clashed with soldiers in the oil rich region killing over 20 persons
Sponsored by Senator Anthony Manzo and 10 other senators, the billed entitled "National Security Enhancement Bill" is seeking to prescribe stringent sanctions against person or group of persons that may be convicted of organized crime and terrorism.
Under the proposed law, any person convicted for terrorism or found to be a member of a terrorist group is liable to a jail term of 20 years without an option of fine.
The same sanction is applicable to any individual convicted of inciting acts of terrorism or providing training and logistics for terrorism and organized violence in the country.
The proposed law specifically prescribes a minimum of 20 years for persons convicted for supporting, aiding and abating the activities of terrorist groups.
It also law empowers any police officer to arrest without warrant any person who has committed or is committing act of terrorism, while the attorney general of the federation has the powers also to order the arrest and detention of such persons for up to sixty days before trial.
Under the law, terrorism include any act or threat of action in and outside the country which involves serious bodily harm to a person, endangers human life, causes serious damage to property and create serious risk to the health of the public or a section of it.
These according to the law include acts to "intimidate the public or a section of it or compel a government or an international organization to do or refrain from doing any act."
Under section 40 (3) of the proposed law, terrorist acts include "an act or omission in or outside Nigeria which constitutes an offence within the scope of a counter terrorism convention or an act or threat of action in and outside Nigeria which involves serious bodily harm to a person, involves serious damage to property, endangers a person's life, creates a serious risk to the health and safety of the public or a section of it."
The section further defines terrorism as acts, which "involves the use of firearms or explosives; involves releasing into the environment or any part thereof or distributing or exposing the public or any part thereof to any dangerous, hazardous, radioactive or harmful substances, any toxic chemical, any micro biological agent and toxin."
Also acts "designed or intended to disrupt any computer system, telecoms and transport system or design to disrupt the provision of essential emergency are also deemed as terrorism in the proposed law.
However, protests and industrial actions, which are not intended to result in harm to person and public are not included as acts of terrorism under the proposed law.
Section 40 (4) provides that "acts which disrupts any service and is committed in pursuance of a protest, demonstration or stoppage of work shall be deemed not to be a terrorist act within the meaning of this definition so long as only as the act is not intended to result in any harm to person o public".
The bill was however referred to the committees on the National Intelligence, Judiciary and Defence.
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