Saraki, PDP kick against proposed hate speech bill

The Minister of State for Transportation, Gbemisola Saraki and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have faulted the proposed introduction of a bill to tackle hate speeches and other social media related contents, considered antagonistic to the polity.

Saraki, who reacted to the proposed bill sponsored by Senator Sabi Abdullahi, after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday, said the reintroduction of the hate speech bill was unnecessary.

According to her, the CyberCrime Act already has provisions and penalties for hate speech, hence there is no need for the current bill.

She said: “Be that as it may, I think in the Cybercrime Act, there is a law already in Nigeria, the cybercrime Act that has the hate speech aspect in it.

“The reason I am not privileged to know the sponsor of the particular bill that you mentioned, but there is a law. I stand to be corrected, I think it was passed in 2014/2015 I am not particularly sure but there is a law that takes care of this hate speech of a thing.

“Because cybercrime is now a major issue and as you know internationally, the world over, everybody is concerned about it being the new frontier to fight crime. So hate speech is within that cybercrime aspect.”

Also expressing the opposition party’s condemnation, National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan in a statement asked the National Assembly to protect the nation by throwing away the bill, which it described as obnoxious.

The PDP said it condemned in entirety, “the savage, repressive, cruel and murderous intents of the hate speech ‘prohibition’ bill, which seeks stringent punishment, including death by hanging as penalty.”

“The resurfacing of the cruel bill in the Senate, after Nigerians vehemently rejected it last year, only points to the incurable desperation of the APC-led Federal Government to suppress and crush the will of the citizens at all cost.

PDP said the bill if allowed to pass would destroy the democratic order, strip constitutional provisions, the rights of citizens and usher in a full-blown “despotism in Nigeria.”

“The PDP challenges the proponents of the bill to start by condemning and setting penalties for those behind the “body bag” comments as well as the “baboon and the dog blood” narrative, which led to bloody unrest and the death of many innocent Nigerians.

“Our party, therefore, cautions the APC and its Federal Government to retrace their steps and withdraw the noxious bill.

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“The PDP also charges the National Assembly to protect our nation by throwing away the bill and, if anything, use its legislative instruments to strengthen our institutions and authorities vested with the regulation of public expression in line with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended),” the party added.