The government of Enugu State on Tuesday, August 20, 2024, said any property – whether private or public – used for the purpose of kidnapping for ransom in any part of the state will be demolished.
The Secretary to the State Government, Chidiebere Onyia, disclosed this in a statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to Govenor Peter Mbah on External Relations, Uche Anichukwu.
Onyia said that the step was in continuation with the determined efforts by Mbah’s administration to rid Enugu State of all forms of crimes and criminalities.
The Enugu State House of Assembly had in November 2016, amended the Criminal Code Law of Enugu State, which was subsequently signed into Law by former Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, on January 20, 2017.
According to the provisions of Section 315 of the Criminal Code (Second Amendment) Law Cap. 30, Laws of Enugu State, “If the building or structure owned by the offender or any other person, who knows or ought to reasonably know that the building or structure is so being used for that purpose, the building or structure shall be demolished or forfeited to the State Government.”
Onyia was quoted to have said that Enugu citizens had wondered why the government was yet to enforce the law, eight years after.
The statement read in part, “Responding to the citizen’s agitations over what they perceived as a lukewarm attitude to the law, the current administration is taking time to carry out due diligence to ensure that nobody suffers undue losses or miscarriage of justice.
“The government warned property owners to take necessary steps to know their prospective tenants before leasing their property to them,” It said.
It added that Onyia noted that after due diligence, the government had compiled the list of property used for kidnapping purposes in the state.
According to him, the property will go down sooner than later, to serve as deterrent to others.
“There is no hiding place for criminal elements in Enugu State.
“They either repent, leave town or meet their waterloo, the choice is theirs,” the SSG said.
