By our reporter 14.10.2026
Nigeria’s Senate president Godswill Akpabio’s remarks about young people wanting to die so they can meet a virgin in heaven has been faulted by the African Democratic Congress.
Akpabio during debate on Tuesday about the decrimanalisation of suicide attempts had jokingly wondered why young people would want to take their lives, he also said that people who attempt suicidal should die or they would be sent to jail.
But the ADC said there was nothing funny about the remarks, which could introduce religious stereotyping into a debate that should focus on protecting human life.
“We find the ‘seven virgins’ remark particularly disturbing because it introduces religious stereotyping into a discussion that should be about protecting human life. Such a lurid comment is careless and insensitive. It also trivialises an issue that is, literally speaking, a matter of life and death,” said an ADC statement signed by its national publicity secretary Bolaji Abdullahi.
The ADC expressed disappointment that the Senate President had reportedly supported retaining imprisonment as a penalty when lawmakers had an opportunity to reform the law.
“It is shameful that, when presented with an opportunity to reform this punitive inheritance, the head of the Senate chose to champion its preservation. Nigeria cannot continue to punish people for surviving a crisis that nearly claimed their lives, especially when those who handed us those laws have long abolished them,” the party added.