There Would Be No Hate Speech Bill If That Is What Nigerians Want – Senate

The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday said the controversial Hate Speech bill will not see the light of the day, provided that is what Nigerians want.

The assurance was given on Wednesday by two senators, Uba Sani (APC, Kaduna Central) and Yakubu Oseni (APC, Kogi Central) who spoke on behalf of the Senate to dozens of protesters, who marched to the National Assembly to ask the Senate to drop the bill to regulate the social media in Nigeria.

According to the two senators, despite the bill being sponsored by their colleague, the Senate would do the bidding of Nigerians.

Two groups, Take It Back Movement and Concerned Nigerians, organized the protest.

Apart from demanding that Senate dropped the social media and the hate speech bills, the protesters also asked the federal government to obey court orders by releasing Omoyele Sowore and other journalists held for dissent.

Some of their placards read: “If you can’t stand the smoke. Get out of the kitchen”, “Only a repressive regime muscles the media”, “#SayNoToSocialMediaBill, we are not in tyranny century”, “If we can’t say what we think, in a democratic society, then it is not democracy”, “Do not gag me”, “Free Sowore”.

Mr. Deji Adeyanju, one of the conveners of the protest, said the protest would, henceforth, be frequent.

He faulted the decision to adopt Singapore’s version of the same bill, saying aid the Asian country is not a democratic state.

But reassuring the protesters, Senator Sani said the leadership of the National Assembly is open to dialogue – urging Nigerians to attend the public hearing on the bills, in order to air their views on them.

He said, “The law is not about the 109 senators. It is about Nigerians. Democracy is about free speech, it is about rule of law. That is why their voices are extremely important. That is why we believe that your agitation is valid and also in the best interest of our own county. We are going to certainly work with you on the day of the public hearing.

“I have no doubt in my mind, if Nigerians don’t want these bills, even though they are being sponsored by our colleagues, certainly it won’t escape the public hearing. I can assure you we are going to do whatever is in the best interest of our own country. Whatever Nigerians want is what the 9th Senate would do.

“We are aware of section 24 of the Cybercrime Act and some of us are on the same page with these agitations. We are not guided by any political affiliation. We are guided by the law and concerned about the progress of our own country.”