WorldStage Newsonline– The Nigerian Senate on Thursday passed a bill imposing the death penalty for individuals convicted of drug trafficking and related offenses in the country.
The legislation titled the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act (Amendment Bill) 2024 passed a third reading at the Senate on Thursday.
Senator Ali Ndume from Borno South serving as Senate Chief Whip, championed the legislation, which sparked debate among senators.
During the session, the Senate reviewed the report of its Judiciary and Narcotics Committees on the NDLEA Act Amendment Bill of 2024. While examining the document clause by clause, Senator Ndume proposed an amendment to clause 11, advocating for the death penalty for those involved in the production, cultivation, processing, sale, or trafficking of cocaine in Nigeria.
During a clause-by-clause consideration of Bill, Barau Jibrin, the Deputy Senate President who presided over the session, put the amendment on the death penalty to a voice vote and declared that the ayes” had it.
But Adams Oshiomhole, Senator Representing Edo North objected that the “nays” had it rather.
He argued that matters of life and death should not be treated hurriedly.
But Barau said it was too late, as he failed to raise a point of division soon enough. The bill was subsequently passed.
