What About Body Branding, Nose/Hand Cutting, Eye Gouging, Leg Amputation, Public Flogging As Alternatives To Death Sentence For Looters?
In the eyes of God/Allah, Nigerians are known globally as highly religious people, as such may not agree fully with the call for capital punishment or death penalty for looters of government treasury.
The call for death penalty by organized trade unions has been outright rejected by many Nigerian Governors with some of them known for their unusual riches and possessions.
Given that there are already other legal penalties like medically supervised amputation, body branding, nose/hand cutting, eye gouging , public flogging as range of sentencing options; looters should be given these options depending of the severity of the theft which could serve as deterrence to others.
Compared to the death sentence or life imprisonment which is generally too harsh, the society could opt for these alternative sentences as range of options to death sentence for looters.
These options certainly are more humane compared to the death sentence, and have more revealing images, therefore serve better in terms of deterring future looters.
Constitutionally, Nigeria has both English based civil laws and the Sharia laws, therefore convicted looters in spite of their religious backgrounds should be tried in any court in the land especially when the offender knows that with one of these options to death sentence, he or she can still be alive in the society.
Also, the death penalty sentence which is being proposed for looters will need to go through a bill process in the National Assembly before it becomes an act of parliament. On the other hand, this body related mutilation options are sanctions that are already in our laws, as such readily available as forms of punishment to convicted corrupt public office holders.
It is also suggested that the nation should institute some special courts which will quicken the implementation of alternative punishments.
As starting points, Nigerian Corruption Courts could be in places like Zamfara, Yobe, Katsina, Sokoto, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kano, Abuja, and maybe, in other areas like Warri, Benin City, Lagos, Oyo, Port Harcourt and other places of interest as deemed necessary by judicial best practices.
Let be known that this writer does not subscribe to death sentence or any form of body related mutilations for looters but offers the later as alternatives compared to the taking of human life.
Dr. John Egbeazien Oshodi is a specialist in Prison/Police/National Security matters and a former Secretary-General of the Nigeria Psychological Association. [email protected]