{"id":123165,"date":"2025-10-22T02:39:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T01:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=123165"},"modified":"2025-10-22T02:39:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T01:39:22","slug":"senate-passes-bill-prescribing-life-imprisonment-for-child-defilers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/senate-passes-bill-prescribing-life-imprisonment-for-child-defilers\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Passes Bill Prescribing Life Imprisonment for Child Defilers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By Lizzy Chirkpi<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday passed amendments to the Criminal Code Act prescribing life imprisonment for anyone convicted of sexually defiling a minor, with no option of fine.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The resolution followed the adoption of the Criminal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2025, a concurrent bill previously passed by the House of Representatives.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The bill seeks to strengthen child-protection laws by introducing stiffer penalties for sexual offenses against minors and removing gender bias in existing provisions. It also abolishes the statute of limitation on defilement cases, making such crimes prosecutable regardless of when they occurred.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Leading debate on the bill, Senator Adams Oshiomhole (APC, Edo North) emphasized the need to treat defilement separately from rape, stressing that minors lack the legal capacity to give consent.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He initially proposed a twenty-year prison term without an option of fine for offenders, describing child defilement as a grave crime that leaves victims permanently scarred.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cFor a minor, this is a kid that is not capable of consenting or otherwise and whose life can be destroyed almost permanently. Those involved in defilement should suffer great punishment,\u201d Oshiomhole stated.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, his proposal was overruled by the majority of senators, who backed an alternative amendment by Senator Muhammad Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central). Aliero argued that a life sentence would serve as a stronger deterrent and ensure equal punishment for offenders, regardless of gender.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cI want to propose that the punishment for defilement of minors be life imprisonment, whether it\u2019s a man or woman found culpable,\u201d Aliero said.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Senate thereafter adopted Aliero\u2019s amendment, making life imprisonment the new mandatory penalty for sexual defilement of minors in Nigeria.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In addition, the amendment redefines rape to include both male and female perpetrators and prescribes a minimum sentence of ten years imprisonment for offenders. A brief controversy arose during deliberations over a clause relating to abortion, but the Senate leadership intervened to halt further debate once the bill was stepped down.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Human Rights for further scrutiny, with a report expected within two weeks.<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lizzy Chirkpi The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday passed amendments to the Criminal Code Act prescribing life imprisonment for anyone convicted of sexually defiling a minor, with no option of&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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