Atiku Cautions Lawmakers Against Hate Speech Bill

The PDP presidential candidate in this year’s general election and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has cautioned lawmakers against moves to pass a bill criminalising purported hate speech.

 The National Commission for the Prohibition of Hate Speeches (Estb., etc) Bill 2019, which seeks death by hanging for anyone found guilty of any form of hate speech that results in the death of another person, was read for the first time on the floor of the senate on Tuesday, November 12, 2019, and it is set for its second reading.

Reacting to the passage of the bill for second reading, Atiku said the bill being conceived by the National Assembly to tackle hate speeches is an abuse of legislative process.

While maintaining that the constitution protects the rights to unhindered speech and expression, Atiku noted that the bill is one which will violate the constitutionally guaranteed rights of Nigerians to Freedom of Speech.

Atiku enjoined those behind the bill to stay awake to the fact that Nigeria’s democracy has survived its longest incarnation.

This, according to him, is because those who governed the country between 1999 and 2015 never toyed with the 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.

"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?"

President Buhari has repeatedly denounced “hate speech” on social media in recent national broadcasts. 

The bill has been attracting widespread criticism from civic groups and Nigerians at large, as many concluded that the senate’s interpretation of ‘hate speech’ would be at odds with the Nigerian Constitution should the bill become law as designed.