₦airaland Forum

Samunique:
The hate speech bill will never work !

They have denied Nigerians almost everything, they still want to deny us freedom of speech !

Come to think of it , wasn't this APC govt started this hate speech of a thing in Nigeria,?

Why are they so scared of it now

Built2last:
The Nigerian Social Media is the last and only standing lifeline not just for democracy but for our right to life. If we lose it, we will have lost everything.

The two atrocious bills (1) Social Media bill and (2) Hate speech bill sponsored by two separate Senators both from Niger state must not be allowed to become law.

If the HATE SPEECH Bill which prescribes DEATH BY HANGING for hate speech makes it through second reading in the rubber stamp Senate, WE ARE DOOMED! Remember, HATE SPEECH IS WHAT THE GOVT SAYS IT IS. For example, if Fulani herdsmen invade a village killing men, women and children with govt sponsored impunity, and you, a victim of the attack comes on social media to blame the herdsmen, the govt controlled by the same people could accuse you of Hate Speech and seeing as our Judiciary is now 'achikota ekwee onu' (a joke), they will effortlessly convict you and the punishment is hanging, according to the bill.

In the process of passing a bill into law, first reading is more like the introduction of the bill which almost always doesn't require debate on the content of the bill. The real work begins at the second reading when every Senator is expected to have been gifted with a copy of the bill which they must have read before debating it. And seeing as we use the primitive and archaic "yes" and "nays" here as against electronic voting, it is very easy for a pliant Senate President to say something like "the nays have it" even if the "yes" shouted the loudest. It is also so easy for one idiot with the voice of comedian "Broda Shaggi" to raise his voice loud enough to confuse a sincere Senate President into making the wrong conclusion. It becomes worse when you realize that Ahmed Lawan, the current Senate President has never hidden his desire to keep his head and that of the entire Senate as an institution eternally buried in the poo-poo hole of the daura ex soldier who lives in the Rock.

The Senate minority leader, distinguished Senator Enyinnaya Harcourt Abaribe, will use everything in his power to TRY to get his colleagues to oppose that atrocious bill just like he promised today on Channels TV show. But the Realist in me knows HE MAY LIKELY FAIL for obvious reasons: Most of the Senators he will be relying on to oppose the bill are former governors, deputy governors, ministers etc. And reasonable number of them are into govt contracts. Which means, they have one dirty file or the other hanging around their necks. Knowing how this govt uses state agencies to achieve unholy selfish aim, we know how the EFCC will be used to force their hands. And for the very few clean ones amongst them (if they exist), all it takes is a heavy dose of monetary inducement. This is basically how the Executive right from the Obasanjo time controls the legislature. With someone like Ahmed Lawan, Buhari may not even need to go to the above length. So you see why I said Abaribe may most likely fail? This is where we must appreciate Saraki/Ekweremadu leadership in the last Senate.

The only people that can stop these political Bandits is the Nigerian people through constant social media shouting, Facebook and twitter trends which will involve tagging major international media houses and embassies plus credible foreign organizations. And peaceful street protests which, of course, the repressive security forces will clamp down on but it will create the necessary attention. I would have suggested releasing the phone numbers of all Nigerian Senators for a protest calls and text messages but considering our ethnic cleavages, I don't know how that will play out.

Lastly, this is not the time to mock Sowore or anyone being detained by this lawless govt or those protesting for their release even if they were ex-Buharists. If we must survive this, we must rise above such mawkish emotional sentimentality and see this evil for the whirlwind it really is. Ask yourself, if they could treat their former allies this way, what will they do to you who has been their enemy from Adam? As they ask in the street, death wey kpai Alhaji, wetin im go do to Almajiri?

In life, unforeseen circumstances play a big role in the affairs of man. No matter how perfect these evil men think their plans are, Natural forces can still scuttle it all. So somehow, I hope and pray that unforeseen circumstances will work in our favor here but before then, we must do what we can on our own.

NwaAmaikpe:





The hate speech bill further aims the crosshairs on people like myself who without equivocation or any hues of grey criticize the ills of government.

We are threatened by this bill and hope it doesn't scale through because any truth that sounds unpleasant to our leaders is termed hate speech.
But the truth must be spoken.
Unless they'd rather we speak the truth only when outside Nigeria.

I really do admire Steve Biko and have the utmost admiration for Patrice Lumumba.
Ken Saro Wiwa is amongst my greatest Nigerians of all times and Malcolm X amongst my greatest Blacks of all times but God knows I'd prefer to die on top of a woman than to be executed just for speaking the truth.

Racoon:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/thenationonlineng.net/hate-speech-bill-senate-urges-nigerians-to-be-patient/amp/

Racoon:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/thenationonlineng.net/hate-speech-bill-senate-urges-nigerians-to-be-patient/amp/

Racoon:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/thenationonlineng.net/hate-speech-bill-senate-urges-nigerians-to-be-patient/amp/

naptu2:
The same senator proposed the same bill at the last Senate and it failed to pass the 2nd reading stage and the same thing will happen again (it will fail). I believe that the senator knows that it will fail and this is all about creating a media frenzy.

2018 thread

https://www.nairaland.com/4377960/hate-speech-bill-sponsor-senator

Seenyo:
...#bunch of self-serving, discombobulated simpletons!

The shithole is fast heading south!

Hameex:
You can as well go and f**k yourself do buhari know u exist mumu

femioyewale:
HATE SPEECH BILL SPONSOR, SENATOR ALIYU ABDULLAHI SABI: WHAT IS YOUR GROUSE? WHAT ARE YOUR FEARS?[b][/b]

Indeed, the popular saying that "where there's smoke there's fire" is truism.

For some days, I have been bothered as to how one who witnessed, read or heard of the evils perpetrated under several military interregnums in Nigeria, would want to re-introduce a Bill akin to the controversial Public Officers (Protection Against False Accusation) Decree No 4, such as the controversial Hate Speech Bill?

Why create a Hate Speech Commission in a nascent democracy like ours? This is a recipe to gag Free Speech, Press Freedom and muzzle the opposition into submission by any ruling government at Federal, State and Local Council levels.

What does APC Senator Aliyu Abdullahi Sabi, Senate Spokesperson and Senator representing the good people of Niger North Senatorial District want?

DIGGING DEEP

'Distinguished' Senator Sabi, four months ago, precisely on November 3, 2017, was allegedly assaulted and stoned in Kontagora, the headquarters of Niger North Senatorial District where he represents.

Irked by the humiliation he suffered, Sen. Sabi may perhaps be nicodemusly joining forces with the enemies of Free Speech in Nigeria to introduce the Hate Speech Bill, which when passed, 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 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.

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.”

Whatever the above means for Senator Sabi and his collaborators, I state that this is a recipe to gag Freedom of Expression, as well as Press Freedom in Nigeria. The opposition will be muzzled into submission. Take this to the banks.

FLASHBACK: ANTI-SOCIAL MEDIA BILL

If Nigerians are not suffering from National Amnesia, it should be recalled that Senator Balla Ibn Na’Allah, the current Senate Leader, while he was Deputy Leader of the Senate, sponsored the controverisial Frivolous Petitions Bill also known as the Anti-Social Media Bill in 2015. That controversial bill was met with resistance by Nigerians online and offline.

Na'Allah, an APC Senator, represents the good people of Kebbi South Senatorial District.

That controversial bill of Na'Allah passed for first reading on November 24, 2015 and second reading on December 2, 2015, in spite of widespread agitations by Nigerians.

But in a dramatic u-turn on May 17, 2016, the Senate threw out the bill to avoid the hammers of Nigerians.

The Senators it was said, took the decision following the report of the committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters on the bill.

Delivering the report, Chairman of the Committee, Senator David Umaru (APC, Niger East) said the bill was opposed by almost all stakeholders during the Public Hearing on it. He therefore said, his committee recommended its withdrawal.

Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the plenary, also backed the withdrawal.

See link: more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/05/senate-throws-anti-social-media-bill/

SENATOR SABI AT IT AGAIN?

Note, Senator Sabi, was elected on the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC), based on the popularity he garnered through President Muhammadu Buhari and the support of the late Emir of Borgu, Sen. Dr, Haliru Dantoro.

The Senator was allegedly humiliated by APC party executives in Kontagora, the headquarters of Niger North Senatorial District, where he was stoned, disgraced and insulted.

It was reported that the Senator having called the executives for a meeting at the town hall in Kontagora, which would be the first time he was having such a meeting, since his election in 2015, could not give a satisfactory answer to why he wanted to meet, a year away from the 2019 general elections.

Those at the meeting asked him to give a list of projects he had done/ attracted to Kontagora since he was senator. He was also asked what financial support he had rendered to students of his constituency.

In response to these questions, the Senator in his defense, said that the Buhari led administration, had not given him any funding for constituency projects.

It was said that his answer provoked members of the executives at the meeting and they became hostile, asking him how other elected members of the National Assembly got funding to execute projects and empower the youths in their constituency.

Save for his security details, it was said that the Executives couldn't physically assault Senator Sabi, but he was chased out of the town hall, as his security team surrounded him and he was quickly taken away in a Peugeot 406 car, which was smashed by a hail of stones. The Civil defense truck did not fare any better either.

The cars in his convoy were also said to be wrecked by a hail of stones, as they drove out of the premises.

That was the humiliation Senator Aliyu Abdullahi Sabi suffered at the hands of his Kontagora constituents on November 3, 2017.

It will also be recalled that earlier in 2017, Senator Sabi faced a similar attack in the town of Babanna, Borgu local government and Rofia in Agwara local government as well.

Could this be the ANGER of Senator Sabi? Sincerely, only him could answer this question.

Without much ado, it is quite unfortunate that since the present administration came on board, there have been several attempts to gag Nigerians from critically assessing the government.

Even President Buhari himself has said that social media is particularly his problem. Why the Fear?

It's imperative for well-meaning Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora to kick against this anti-peoples bill.

What even determines Hate Speech, a discerning mind would ask?

No doubt, this bill is a recipe for anarchy, if it scales through as an Act with a Presidential Assent.

I reieterate well-meaning Nigerians should rise up to the ocassion, and not allow Senator Sabi and his collaborators succeed with this anti-peoples bill.

Like the 2015 Anti-Social Media Bill of Senator Bala Ibn Na'Allah was thrown out of the Senate in 2016, it is certain that this cup would pass too.

Ikenna Asomba, a Social Commentator writes from Atlanta, Georgia.

http://www.saharaweeklyng.com/hate-speech-bill-sponsor-senator-aliyu-abdullahi-sabi-grouse-fears/

anonimi:
Encouraged and adored by the 200 million mumus in the geographical space called Nigeria?


www.nairaland.com/attachments/2174510_nigeriansmobmentality_jpegd710c25fa577a4f0fb35da579ff1eb3d


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Seenyo:
....not really, all nigerians ain't brainless #ZOMBIES!