Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), yesterday, asked the National Assembly to amend the counter-terrorism legislation to prescribe death by hanging for kidnappers and terrorists.

This followed the recent news that bandits killed one of the seven persons abducted from the Kuduru community in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The rights group also expressed worries about the rush by the police to often parade suspects before the press, rather than embark on thorough, comprehensive and all-embracing law enforcement actions.

National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement, urged all the sections of the country to wage determined war against terrorists and kidnappers by adopting swift death sentences for thosewho have subjected Nigerians to callous ordeals in the forests.

HURIWA recalled that the bandits stormed the area and abducted the victims on December 28, 2023, just as a community source revealed to the media that the victim, Olayinka Ogunyemi, was killed after families of the hostages failed to pay the N290 million demanded.

Quoting a media report, HURIWA stated that the bandits called on Friday to break the news of the execution of the civil engineer.

“The bandits called us yesterday that they have killed Ogunyemi. They threatened to kill the remaining captives if N230 million is not made available as ransom. Those still in captivity include one-and-a-half-year-old boy, two siblings, a pregnant woman and two men.

“Twenty-three million naira has been paid, food sent and other items they demanded but none of our people has been released. We are appealing to the Federal Government, the police and the army to step up efforts to rescue our people because their abductors said Nigeria has offended them and they would retaliate,” the source added.

Reacting to the sad news of the killing, HURIWA said “What demonstrates the futility of this stale policing tactics of often rushing to the media for propaganda purposes is that the more the police parade those they termed as ‘notorious’ kidnappers before the press, the very notorious armed terrorists and kidnapping masterminds are busy in the deep forests executing their hostages or collecting heavy ransom before releasing their hostages, who are never traced by the law enforcement agents.”

The group expressed consternation and worry that the state of insecurity in Abuja has not abated.

It asked the police to change their strategies from that of hurried media propaganda to that of diligent policing, which should be focused towards arresting the right suspects, and carrying out thoroughbred investigations to build up the body of evidence that helps in prosecuting thesuspected terrorists.

The rights group also expressed surprise that till date, the law enforcement agencies were still incapable of tracking telephone conversations of terrorists, who embarked on extensive negotiations with relatives of their victims for ransom payments, when law enforcement agents have a way of tracking down perceived political adversaries of the powers-that-be through their telephones.

The group noted the case when the former Senate Minority leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, was arrested from a salon in Abuja by the Department State Services (DSS) through a trail of his telephone conversations.