[size=28pt] Prosecution of kidnappers: We are frustrated, Anambra govt laments [/size]



The Anambra State government has cried out over its frustration, in the effort to prosecute suspects in the numerous kidnap-pings recorded in the state.


The state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Emmanuel Chukwuma, in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, in Awka, expressed the frustration, saying the state government had done all that was required, only that victims of kidnapping would not come out to assist the government in prosecuting the kidnappers.

Chukwuma, who spoke at a Stakeholders Forum on the Administration of Criminal Justice in Nigeria "in the Anambra State capital, said, "we have completely change the criminal justice system in Anambra State.

The state House of Assembly has passed the bill which completely changed the criminal procedure system in the state. Apart from the Federal Government and the Lagos State government, Anambra State is the other one to do this."

He, however, said that the problem the state government was facing was in the prosecution of the suspected kidnappers and not the justice delivery system in the state.

The Attorney-General said: "We have amended our laws to increase the punishment for kidnapping. We have also established special courts charged with the sole responsibility of trying kidnapping cases so that the cases would not be bogged down by other civil cases.

"That was designed to give special treatment to the cases and finish with them in good time. But alas, cases filed in that court have not been able to progress because the complainants and the victims have been afraid to come forward to testify. There is nothing we can do.

"We are handling the prosecution of a lot of kidnapping cases but the victims will not come out to prosecute."



http://odili.net/news/source/2010/aug/9/614.html

This is just the biggest B.S story I've heard in a long time. How many kidnappers do they have in custody in Anambra. Don't you have to have so

many in custody to worry about prosecution ?