Featured

Senate’s Hate Speech Bill: Atiku Abubakar Speaks

Published

4 years ago

November 13, 2019

Eric

A former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has cautioned Nigerian senators against moves to pass a bill criminalising purported hate speech.

The bill being sponsored by Sabi Abdullahi of the All Progressives Congress is targeted at punishing anyone found guilty of spreading “misinformation.”

The bill also prescribed death penalty for anyone found guilty of spreading a falsehood that led to the death of another person.

But civic groups have been critical about the bill because of its narrow and unclear definition of what constitutes hate speech.

The advocates argued that the Senate’s interpretation of ‘hate speech’ would be at odds with the Nigerian Constitution if the bill becomes law as designed. The Constitution protects the rights to unhindered speech, expression and association.

Mr Abubakar aligned with those who believe the constitutional safeguards for free speech should be strengthened rather than undermined by lawmakers and other politicians in power.

The former vice-president and main opposition candidate at the 2019 presidential election said the freedom of speech and other key elements of civil liberties which Nigerians enjoyed between 1999 and 2015 should not be taken away by the current administration.

“It is prudent to build upon the tolerance inherited from those years and not shrink the democratic space to satisfy personal and group interests,” Mr Abubakar said in an emailed statement signed by his spokesperson, Paul Ibe.

Efforts to regulate the media has been keenly considered and publicly pushed by politicians since Muhammadu Buhari assumed power in 2015.

Mr Buhari has a history of brutal repression from his military era in the 1980s, a label from which he remained unflinching.

The president has repeatedly told the country that his government will continue to ignore rights in favour of national security.

Some of his appointees, especially information minister Lai Mohammed, have insisted Nigerians’ free speech will be curbed.

Mr Mohammed said social media has become a tool of irresponsibility amongst elements determined to foment chaos in the country. He has equally overseen imposition of heavy fines on broadcast stations over alleged hate speech on their platforms.

There were efforts to push a variation of the current hate speech bill through the parliament in 2015, but it failed amidst nationwide uproar.

The reintroduced version contained essentially the same fundamentals and Nigerians have vowed to resist it as they did four years ago.

Read Mr Abubakar’s full statement below:

Atiku Abubakar wishes to sound a note of caution to those now toying with the idea of an Anti Hate Speech Bill, with punishment for supposed Hate Speech to be death by hanging. The contemplation of such laws is in itself not just hate speech, but an abuse of the legislative process that will violate Nigerians’ constitutionally guaranteed right to Freedom of Speech.

Atiku urges those behind this Bill to awake to the fact that Nigeria’s democracy has survived its longest incarnation, because those who governed this great nation between 1999 and 2015 never toyed with this most fundamental of freedoms. It is prudent to build upon the tolerance inherited from those years and not shrink the democratic space to satisfy personal and group interests.

Freedom of Speech was not just bestowed to Nigerians by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), it is also a divine right given to all men by their Creator. History is littered with the very negative unintended consequences that result when this God given right is obstructed by those who seek to intimidate the people rather than accommodate them.

We should be reminded that history does not repeat itself. Rather, men repeat history. And often, to disastrous consequences.

Nigeria presently has too many pressing concerns. We are now the world headquarters for extreme poverty as well as the global epicentre of out-of-school children. Our economy is smaller than it was in 2015, while our population is one of the world’s fastest growing. We have retrogressed in the Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International, from the position we held four years ago, and our Human Development Indexes are abysmally low.

It therefore begs the question: should we not rather make laws to tackle these pressing domestic challenges, instead of this Bill, which many citizens consider obnoxious?

Again, Atiku cautions that we must prioritise our challenges ahead of the whims and caprices of those who do not like to hear the inconvenient truth. Stop this folly and focus on issues that matter to Nigerians.

Paul Ibe

Premium Times

Featured

Stay Away from CBT Centres, JAMB Warns Parents, Threatens Arrest

Published

2 days ago

April 18, 2024

Eric

As this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) begins on Friday, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has vowed to arrest parents found near any Computer-Based Test (CBT) centre during the 2024 UTME exercise.

The directive was issued at the final briefing of the CBT centre owners, which was held virtually on Wednesday, 17th April, 2024.

The spokesman for JAMB, Fabian Benjamin, said this directive became necessary following the intrusive disposition of some parents during the Board’s previous exercises.

Benjamin, who quoted JAMB Registrar Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, said any parent, who disobeys the order would not only be arrested but his ward would also be disqualified from sitting for the examination.

Oloyede explained that this measure became necessary as it has been discovered over time that many of these intruding parents are facilitators of examination infractions while others have, by their actions, disrupted the Board’s examinations in the past.

He added that some miscreants also disguise as parents to infiltrate the centres to perpetrate all forms of infractions.

“The Board’s helmsman noted that going by the extant national policy on education, a candidate for the examination must have attained the age of 17 years.

“Therefore, it is evident that these parents had not allowed their wards to pass through the classes as defined in the document, hence the desperation to follow their wards to the examination venue with the aim of compromising examination officials.

“At any rate, it is clear to any discerning observer that these parents deserve to be sanctioned as they had obviously ‘smuggled’ underage children into the ranks of those scheduled to sit the examination,” the Board note through a statement.

Furthermore, the Registrar said all arrangements have been concluded for the conduct of the 2024 UTME, which will be held in over 700 CBT centres across the nation.

He disclosed that the Board expects a seamless exercise but it has nevertheless made adequate provision to tackle any technical glitch that might occur in the course of the examination.

He, however, warned that if a session experienced any technical challenge, candidates in subsequent sessions would be allowed to sit their examination as scheduled while the candidates in the challenged session would be rescheduled for the last session for the day or the following day or even further depending on the centre schedules.

Featured

Oyo Govt Demolishes Operational Base of Yoruba Nation Agitators

Published

2 days ago

April 18, 2024

Eric

The Oyo State government, on Wednesday, demolished a building serving as the operational base of the Yoruba Nation agitators led by Modupe Onitiri-Abiola, in Ibadan.

Onitiri-Abiola, one of the widows of late Bashorun M.KO Abiola, had declared the creation of the so-called Yoruba Nation in a video posted online, which has been widely condemned.

Last Saturday, some armed men in military uniforms invaded the Oyo State Secretariat, with the motive to forcefully take over the State House of Assembly, before they were dislodged by the combined efforts of police and troops for the Nigeria Army 2 Division..

Mr. Fatai Owoseni, Special Adviser on Security Matters to Governor Seyi Makinde, confirmed the demolition of the house located at Toye Oyesola Street in Ibadan South West Local Government Area.

Already, no fewer than 29 suspects – including a lecturer – arrested in connection with the foiled armed invasion were on Wednesday arraigned by the police before a Chief Magistrates’ Court in Ibadan.

In a case with charge number Mi/520c/2024 between the Commissioner of Police and the 29 suspects, they were accused of a seven-count charge of treasonable felony, unlawful society, illegal possession of firearms, and conduct likely to cause breach of peace.

Inspector Bakare Rasaq, the Investigative Police Officer (IPO) at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Iyaganku, Ibadan, said the offence contravenes, and is punishable under Section 516 of the Criminal Code, Cap 38, Vol. II, Laws of Oyo State of Nigeria, 2000.

Featured

PDP BoT Queries Damagum, Anyanwu’s Continued Stay in Office

Published

2 days ago

April 18, 2024

Eric

The Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party has queried the continued stay in office of the party’s acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, and National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu.

Recently, many party members have raised concerns about the ongoing tenure of Damagum and Anywanwu in their respective positions.

Previously serving as the PDP National Deputy Chairman (North), Damagum assumed the role of acting National Chairman following the court’s suspension of the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, in March of the preceding year.

With the National Secretary being selected as the PDP candidate for the Imo State 2023 governorship election, the South zone has been grappling with nominating a replacement. Despite this, he, along with other party leaders, contested and retained the position of party secretary after losing to Governor Hope Uzodinnma.

The Punch