Niger gov wife advocates death sentence for rapists

Wife of the Niger state governor, Dr. Amina Sani Bello, has advocated for life jail sentence for those convicted of rape saying that “on weekly basis I receive reports of one or two rape cases most of them minors.

She described the development as disturbing because the lives of the victims were being destroyed.

Dr Amina Bello made the suggestion in Minna on Monday when she received top officials of the state Ministry of Justice on an advocacy visit to her office decried the present punishment for offenders saying that ” it is not stringent enough to deter people from committing the crime.”

According to her if “life sentence is the maximum punishment for rapists those involved will think twice before committing the offence.”

Dr. Bello also took exception to the N10,000 fine and two month jail term recently handed down to a homosexual who “raped a 12 year old boy to death” said that “the punishment was not commensurate with the offence committed.”

She also said it was incredible that a magistrate court could release a homosexual suspect who raped 12 boys at the same time when charged before the court.

Dr. Bello promised to collaborate with the ministry to bring to justice those committing rape and homosexuals in the state.

The Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Nasara Danmallam, in his remarks disclosed that the state Judicial Service Commission had set up a high powered committee to investigate the magistrates that handled the rape and homosexual cases saying the committee would soon submit its report.

Nasara Danmallam said that the ministry had established a “Gender and domestic relations department” to handle cases related to abuse of women and the youths.