Civil rights groups have berated the Senate over a bill that recommends death sentence for any person found guilty of hate speech.
The bill, which is sponsored by Senate spokesperson, Senator Aliyu Sabi-Abdullahi (APC-Niger), recommends the death penalty for any hate speech that results in the death of a person.
The bill passed the first reading at the Senate on Wednesday.
Groups, including the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership and the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, described the bill as draconian.
CDHR and CACOL said capital punishment was becoming unpopular all over the world, noting that there were provisions in the law to duly prosecute perpetrators of hate speech rather than a death sentence.
The CDHR President, Malachy Ugwummadu, said, “I think there have been very desperate and sinister moves on the part of the Senate, hiding under the cloak of a nebulous term such as hate speech, to whittle down and undermine the fundamental rights of Nigerians. The first challenge about that bill is to know who defines hate speech. Is it the senators or the people?
“You will certainly harvest abuses if we go by the Senate’s definition of hate speech. Every Nigerian, including those who are alleged to have indulged in hate speech, enjoys a constitutional right to freedom of expression. It will only take a court to take away those rights in specific circumstances. Anything short of that will amount to a breach of that right.
“Also, there are still bodies of legislation on defamation, slander and libel which carry their own punishments and penalties, but not the death penalty. They, more often than not, attract payment of damages. The Senate must not tamper with this arrangement. We recommend that the bill on capital punishment be abolished.”
Also, CACOL Director, Debo Adeniran, said, “First of all, most of the laws being put forward by the Senate are self-serving. They are the worst culprits when it comes to hate speech. Even within their own ranks, you see how they address one another and other arms of government.
“If they define hate speech, you will wonder if they will factor their own behaviours into it. Hate speech must not attract the death penalty because we cannot be sure of the prosecution leading to it. The bill is unwarranted and self-serving.”
In its own reaction, HURIWA accused the National Assembly of working together with enemies of democracy who were bent on destroying civil rule.
The National Coordinator of the group, Mr. Emmanuel Onwubiko, in an interview with Punch said HURIWA had warned the National Assembly to stop using subterranean tactics of sponsoring tyrannical legislation that could strengthen the oppressive style and the dictatorial tendencies of the present government.
Onwubiko stated, “HURIWA is of the position that the draconian bill before the national legislature purportedly meant to check hate speech is aimed at destroying freedom of speech and media rights. It is one of the latest weapons being used by haters of free speech to demonise and attack perceived political opponents.”
He added that the bill was designed to criminalise “independent voices that are critical and vocal about the gross misgovernance that has become the hallmark of the current Federal Government and most state governments.”
Meanwhile, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Yusuf Ali, said the bill by the Senate should not be totally discarded because hate speech had led to very grievous consequences in the country.
Ali said, “There is no absolute freedom of speech anywhere in the world; there is none – not even in the United States of America. Now, if we have got to this level where ethnic and tribal strife has led to deaths because someone spread a rumour, should we not do anything about it?
“Nigeria has a heterogeneous population. Should people not be held accountable for what they say? While I believe that a death penalty may be too draconian, people should be able to face the consequences of their actions.”
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