HATE SPEECH BILL PROMOTES HATRED Sonnie Ekwowusi

Argues that the bill violates the right to freedom of speech and expression

Aside from violating the right to freedom of speech and expression as enshrined in our 1999 Constitution and the Freedom of Information Act, the Hate Speech Bill being sponsored in the Senate by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Publicity, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi (APC, Niger State) is essentially a hateful bill containing abusive or insulting words, stirring up ethnic hatred or ethnic killings capable of resulting in the death of many Nigerians. To begin with, the bill stirs up public hatred against the sponsor. Because Senator Abdullahi is a member of the ruling party, the bill also stirs up public hatred against the Buhari government. It depicts President Buhari as a power-drunk dictator and a suppressor of public opinion and freedom of speech. The bill also promotes hatred and mutual suspicion among members of the National Assembly. Equally, it fans the ember of ethnic rivalry and hatred in Nigeria. The bill contains euphemistic expressions that promote disunity and mistrust among Nigerian Muslims and Christians. Therefore Senator Abdullahi is respectfully advised, in the interest of national unity and national integration, to withdraw the offensive bill. We have shed enough blood in Nigeria in the last three years. Therefore anything capable of causing a breach of public peace that could lead to the shedding of more blood should be avoided. Besides, the elections are around the corner. The APC is already walking a tight rope. Therefore anything capable of further jeopardising the chances of APC in 2019 should be avoided.

Coming on the heels of the anti-NGO bill at the House of Representatives by Hon. Umar Buba Jibril, Senator Abdullahi’s bill is repugnant to equity, justice and good conscience. It provides that any person found guilty of any form of hate speech that results in the death of another person shall die by hanging upon conviction. Also the bill provides that offences such as harassment on the grounds of ethnicity or racial contempt, the culprit shall be sentenced to “not less than a five-year jail term or a fine of not less than N10 million or both.” But as I said earlier, the bill is a hateful bill. It violates the right to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed in our constitution. It aims at emasculating the Nigerian press. The role of the press is so important in the society that different adjectives are employed to emphasize it. Given its role in constitutional democracy, the press is dubbed the Fourth Estate of the Realm, after the Legislature. In common parlance, the press is simply referred to as the watchdog of the society. In their book entitled: “The Crisis of Press Freedom in Nigeria,” Clement Nwakwo, Frank Aigbogun, Eluem Emeka Izeze and Dulue Mbachu stated: “A free media will be able to provide to the people a true account of the goings-on in government and society at large and act as a watch dog of the people’s rights against government abuses”. Also in their book: “Nigerian Media Law” (1991 Edition) page four, Osinbajo and Fogam stated that a free press that is also independent is an essential element of a free state under modern democracy. Suffice it to say that under the different military totalitarian regimes in Nigeria, the Nigerian press suffered emasculation, intimidation, suppression and proscription. In a bid to perpetuate their dictatorial hold onto power, the military spewed out several unjust laws and draconian decrees with ouster clauses which effectively excluded the fundamental human rights provision in our constitution. You will recall the draconian Decrees Two and Four of 1984 under which the Buhari-Idiagbon military regime arrested and detained many Nigerian journalists and sealed up the premises of the Guardian newspapers. We can also recall the trial of journalists Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor under the obnoxious Decree Four. Of course under Sani Abacha’s dictatorial regime, journalists were bundled out in broad daylight and dumped into the gulag for speaking the truth. However, with the restoration of democratic government in Nigeria since May 29, 1999 the fundamental human rights enshrined in sections 33-46 of the 1999 constitution have equally been restored. Therefore Senator Abdullahi’s bill is setting the hands of the clock back. The bill is trying to take Nigeria back to the hellish military totalitarian regimes. Nigeria is now under a civilian rule.

Come to think of it, laws on libel, slander and hate speech are not lacking in Nigeria. Senator Abdullahi is not a lawyer. Therefore he may not understand that there are copious laws in Nigeria dealing with libel, slander and hate speech. The Nigerian media and the activities of Nigerian journalists are already within the purview of the law. They are already governed by existing laws. So, the Hate Speech Bill is superfluous and unnecessary. Let me repeat what has somewhat become an aphorism. Our main problem in Nigeria is not lack of laws: our problem is enforcing the existing laws. So the bill is unwarranted. Already the bill promotes disaffection and hatred among different people from different strata of Nigerian society. For example, in a statement issued last Friday, the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) cautioned against prescribing death penalty for an alleged hate speech. It also stated that the hate speech law “could be used indiscriminately against perceived political opponents by unscrupulous members of the political elite”. Of course, the NUJ is right. The punishment prescribed for alleged offenders under the bill is so outrageously disproportional to the alleged offence. How can Senator Abdullahi impose a death sentence on a citizen exercising his or her right to freedom of speech as guarantied in our constitution when the politicians under the Buhari government are freely looting public funds and freely walking the streets? What we need at this moment in Nigeria is good governance. If the Buhari government has failed to live up to its bidding, no hate speech law in this world can salvage it. We must begin to move away from the Statist mentality conveying the impression that once we enact laws all our human problems will be solved. We have to understand that not every obligation that augurs well for proper ordering of society can be codified in positive law. More importantly, we must envision a democracy that guarantees freedom of expression. Freedom is more than absence of imprisonment or deliverance from despotic rulers. Freedom concerns shared beliefs, shared values and liberating principles. If there are no liberating principles to guide political activity, then political ideas and convictions can easily be manipulated or corrupted for reasons of power.

THE BILL IS TRYING TO TAKE NIGERIA BACK TO THE HELLISH MILITARY TOTALITARIAN REGIMES. NIGERIA IS NOW UNDER A CIVILIAN RULE