THURSDAY, 10TH MAY, 2001

Senate recommends life jail for coup plotters.

By Emmanuel Aziken

ABUJA— A FRESH move to punish coup plotters and their civilian collaborators was introduced in the Senate yesterday. Under the proposed legislation, any military or police personnel who participates in the over turning of a democratic government would be punished by a life jail while their civilian collaborators will get fourteen years imprisonment.

The Senate action followed the adoption of the report of the Senate Committee on Judiciary on the two bills to amend the criminal code and the penal code in order to make service in an illegitimate government a punishable offence.

The two bills initiated by Senator Adawari Pepple (PDP Rivers South East) were rejected by the committee on procedural grounds and replaced with a combined bill which was presented to the Senate yesterday.

Senator Mike Ajaegbo, chairman of the committee on Judiciary told Vanguard yesterday that the committee’s action was because of the incapacity of the National Assembly to amend the criminal and penal codes which were both state laws.

He said: "The bills as originally proposed wanted to amend the criminal code and the penal code. These from our own observations are state laws, the National Assembly cannot amend state laws especially, those things within their own exclusive jurisdiction."

According to him, the amendments made by the committee to the original bill have brought the bill within the ambit of Section II of the Constitution which would then enable the National Assembly to act on it.

Section I (3) of the bill makes the offence of coup plotting a permanent statute which can not be suspended by military usurpers as had been the practise of previous military governments of the past.