“Don’t Criminalise Desperation”: Bamidele Salam Rejects Punishment For Ransom Payers, Says Govt Has Failed Nigerians

The lawmaker representing Ede North, Ede South, Egbedore and Ejigbo Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, Hon. Bamidele Salam, has opposed moves to enforce punishment for payment of ransom to kidnappers, arguing that it would amount to “double jeopardy” for families already abandoned by the state.

NAIJAONPOINT reports that the House of Representatives on Wednesday called for urgent executive action to dismantle the financial networks sustaining kidnapping, banditry and terrorism, urging the Federal Government to strengthen financial intelligence coordination and tighten oversight of Bureau De Change operators, Point-of-Sale operators and other financial intermediaries.

The resolution followed the adoption of a motion titled “Need for Executive Action to Halt the Ransom Cash Economy, Strengthen Financial Intelligence Coordination, and Enforce Compliance with Anti-Money Laundering Frameworks in Nigeria,” sponsored by Lagos lawmaker, Ademorin Kuye.

Moving the motion, Kuye said the Federal Government has a constitutional responsibility to protect lives and safeguard Nigeria’s economic sovereignty, noting that existing laws already empower relevant institutions to detect and disrupt illicit financial flows
He cited provisions of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 and the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, which require financial institutions, designated non-financial businesses and government agencies “to identify, report and prevent transactions linked to money laundering, terrorism financing and ransom payments.”

The lawmaker expressed concern over the growing scale of Nigeria’s ransom economy, citing reports by the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit, the National Bureau of Statistics Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey, 2024, and independent security research organisations, which estimated that “Nigerians paid about N2.23tn in ransom between January 2021 and June 2025.

According to him, “the huge sums paid to kidnappers have continued to fuel organised criminal activities across the country.”

Contributing, Salam said, while he appreciates the intention behind the motion, the government lacks the capacity to rescue victims and should not punish citizens for saving their loved ones.

He said, “I rise this afternoon, Mr Speaker, to first appreciate the intentions behind this very important motion, which is to cut the source of supply to kidnappers through ransom payment.

“As he has said, Mr Speaker, the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act 2022 actually criminalises payment of ransom in case of kidnap victims. Unfortunately, Mr Speaker, it is one thing to make a law; it is another thing for the law to have the desired effect. Just like many other laws we make in this country, this particular law has not had the desired effect.”

Salam blamed the failure of the law on the inability of the state to secure citizens.

“And why hasn’t it had the desired effect? It is simply because the state, which has the responsibility to prevent and apprehend criminals and bring them to justice, has substantially failed in doing so and most of the victims of kidnapping have been left at the mercy of the kidnappers,” he stated.

The lawmaker recounted the ordeal of victims recently freed in Ekiti State after spending 67 days in captivity, warning that enforcing the law against families would worsen their suffering.

“Mr Speaker, a few days ago, some persons who were kidnapped in Ekiti State were freed after 67 days in captivity. I saw the video, and I wept. Some of them have been famished, they could not stand up, they could not walk, and when they interviewed them, they said that they were freed after the payment of 25.5 million Naira in ransom, about 50 bags of rice as part of the ransom, some motorcycles, some recharge cards and some other items which the kidnappers demanded and got from them,” he said.

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The lawmaker added, “When the state is not able to protect citizens, it becomes double jeopardy for them. If we make a law or a regulation that prevents them from using other means to get their loved ones freed from captivity, a man whose lovely daughter, a man whose wife or a woman whose husband is in captivity will do anything, including payment of ransom if he can, when he is almost sure that the state does not have the ability to rescue the victim”.

“So, I want to say that in passing this motion, we should be very careful not to further hurt the feelings of thousands of Nigerians whose loved ones are currently in captivity and who have no hope in the state being able to rescue them,” he added.

Salam further alleged that the government itself has resorted to ransom payment in the past.

“And I want to say on the final note, Mr Speaker, that even the state, even the government is on record to have paid ransom in some instances to get some persons out of captivity to escape embarrassment as a result of the attention some of these incidents were attracting to Nigeria,” he said.

When asked if he was rejecting the motion, the lawmaker replied that he does not want the house to reinforce the double jeopardy for poor, helpless Nigerians, whose loved ones are in the bush and suffering.

He stated that if the state has not demonstrated enough capacity or willpower to rescue kidnapped victims, their loved ones should not be made to face this kind of situation.

“I am not in support of the prayers to the extent that we want to further ask that that provision of the law be enforced against parents and other loved ones of victims of kidnapping in Nigeria until, as a country, we have a security system that is able to go after kidnappers and free kidnap victims and then bring them to face the law,” Salam concluded.