Following the recent passage of a bill to check the incidence of hate speech among Nigerians by the Senate, a lawyer/activist, Mr. Liborous Oshoma, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari not to sign the bill into law.
Oshoma argued that the passage of the bill by the Senate was an attempt by the lawmakers to stifle free speech and give undue powers to the police and other security agencies to arrest Nigerians indiscriminately.
According to the bill, any person found guilty of any form of hate speech that results in the death of another person shall die by hanging upon conviction.
The bill, which reflects the growing concern over the spate of violence in the nation and sponsored by the spokesman of the upper chamber, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi (APC, Niger), also seeks the establishment of an ‘Independent National Commission for Hate Speeches’, which shall enforce hate speech laws across the country, ensure the elimination of the menace and advise the Federal Government.
The bill further stipulates that for offences such as harassment on the grounds of ethnicity or racial contempt, a culprit shall be sentenced to “not less than a five-year jail term or a fine of not less than N10 million or both.”
The lawyer, however, appealed to President Buhari not to assent to the bill because of its draconian provisions, querying how a hate speech would be determined.
Oshoma said, “I’m confident Mr. President won’t assent to this bill being a born-again democrat. I want to take him for his words that he is a reformed democrat.
“I’m calling on Mr. President to show that he is different from some of those people who want to kill the voice of critics. So, I would urge Mr. President not to assent to the bill, not to sign it into law, because to now begin to criminalise what is free speech is what I don’t understand.”
He described the passage of such a bill as a setback for Nigeria among the comity of nations, especially coming several years after the Supreme Court had abrogated the sedition law and other decrees promulgated by the military.
The activist said, “It is an attempt to stifle free speech. The bill gives free licence to law enforcement agents to arrest people. It shows we are truly not moving with.
