Nigerians Decry Death Penalty For Hate Speech Offenders

The Nigerian Senate has come under heavy criticisms following the proposed Hate Speech Prohibition Bill, which seeks the death penalty for offenders.

The Bill, which passed the first reading on Tuesday, attempts to curtail hate speech.

The bill titled, 'National Commission for the Prohibition of Hate Speeches (Establishment, etc.) Bill 2019,' is sponsored by a former spokesperson for the Senate and current Deputy Senate Whip, Senator Sabi Abdullahi.

The bill stipulates that a person commits the offense of hate speech when “A person publishes, presents, produces, plays, provides, distributes and/or directs the performance of any material, written and/or visual, which is threatening, abusive or insulting or involves the use of threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, commits an offence if such person intends thereby to stir up ethnic hatred, or having regard to all the circumstances, ethnic hatred is likely to be stirred up against any person or persons from such an ethnic group in Nigeria.

“A person subjects another to harassment on the basis of ethnicity for the purposes of this section where, on ethnic grounds, he unjustifiably engages in a conduct which has the purpose or effect of (a) violating that other person’s dignity or (b) creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for the person subjected to the harassment.

“Conduct shall be regarded as having the effect specified in subsection (1) (a) or (b) of this section if, having regard to all the circumstances, including in particular the perception of that other person, it should reasonably be considered as having that effect.”

A human rights lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) says it is "An obnoxious law such as this will further drive underground and into hiding, the opposition and genuine social critics, who speak truth to power and criticise serial opaque, anti-people, corrupt and high-handed policies of the government."

Another Senior Advocate, Mr. Dayo Akinlaja said, "As much as one would not want to condone anything like hate speech the reality is that one would have to be extra careful to avoid the possibility of an abuse,” he said, adding: “If the punishment is that capital, then what happens if somebody is wrongly accused? That is rather absurd and preposterous at this age, and I pray that such a thing does not come through.”

Chief Ayo Adebanjo, chieftain of the Afenifere group, said the bill had rendered him speechless, but he had a few words to say, "This is inconceivable in a Senate under a constitutional democracy. There is no arrest or prosecution for Fulani herdsmen’s atrocities not to talk of the death penalty for culprits but free speech. God Save Nigeria."

In a joint statement by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), the body's President, Chris Isiguzo, and the National Secretary, Shuaibu Usman Leman, they said that actions taken by the government in recent times were deliberately done to shut down journalists effectively.

They also added that "Safety implies freedom from danger and, in the newsgathering context, safety implies protection from a range of threats journalists encounter, including arrest, legal action, imprisonment, kidnapping, intimidation, and murder, amongst others. Journalists that are hitherto exposed to more danger in violent armed conflicts than in peace and stable situations, now face greater threats in a democracy like Nigeria. These threats and attacks against the media are aimed at inducing fear and self-censorship, and regrettably, these are the basic strategies of authoritarian regimes and not democracies like in Nigeria."