At such a time like this where there’s upsurge in our security and economy sector, the lawmakers are busy passing a ruthless bill at the detriment of her citizen.
The 9th senate assembly has just passed a bill of three years in jail for things said negatively against the government.
Social media platform which happened to be a better place for individual to pour out their grievances and emotions on where the government is pressing/hitting on them badly is now a no go area route for some of us, who can’t do without speaking and letting our voice to be heard by the oppressors and oppressed soul.
One of the fundamentals human right has been impugned by the 9th senate.
Every person are supposed to be entitled to freedom of expression including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.
This right, unfortunately, has been used by some people to violate other people’s rights. It brings to mind the words of a great thinker: “Under tyranny, people seek liberty; under liberty, people seek tyranny.”
Examples are cases of libel and slander, which is rampant on social media.
Despite the above assertion, of shouldn’t still be a reason for the present day government to deny her citizen of their right.
At this age and time, what happens on social media shouldn’t bother any serious government, the reality of which it should serve as a check and balance for the running administration.
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.
Rather than this government proposing death penalty for hate speech offenders, it should be death penalty for corrupt leaders in this country because “corruption and injustice gave birth to what is now being called hate speech.
“If there is justice, equity, fairness and respect for rule of law, there will be no hate speech.
The moment people are being marginalized and denied their right, surely there will be hate speech. You cannot stop people from expressing their freedom of speech in our present age. It’s autonomy!
If the Senate is proposing death penalty for hate speech, then what will they do to Boko Haram, armed bandits , kidnappers, oil bunkers and treasury looters both politicians and civil servants?
All these things are worse than hate speech. There are more pressing issues to Nigerians that the Senate should look into and address instead of wasting their energy on an unpopular bill like this one that will not see the light of the day.
The quest to regulate social media is a grand plan to silence critics and dissenting voices, and to annihilate free speech on social media platform.
In a saner clime everyone knows that the law is aiming at limiting the rights and freedom of citizens to express their views, which also enacts building a tower of tyranny in the civic space.
One of the campaign strategy of this government is protecting the fundamental rights of her citizen, but the storyline has changed as there is upsurge on the social media platform which negates the mindset of the entire populace against the unappealing aroma of democracy stretched to them in this era. Plying through the military regime has not been palatable as a result of sudden ordinance to back up any law at any given time, here is the time to enjoy the sovereignty of democracy not another era of diplomatic running of a democracy in military styles.
It is ironic that a government that came to power on the promise of protecting the fundamental rights of Nigerians is now reneging and sliding towards totalitarianism. Silencing dissents endangers democracy .
The tyranny of the 9th senate has not only been a topic of discussion for all, and sundry in recent times, it has also carved a nonentity for her sitting on inconsequential issues leaving the welfare of her citizen.
The only way they could pass this bill is If the rumor of President Muhammadu Buhari nursing the ambition of third term is correct, then they need death penalty for hate speech to silence everybody who will want to oppose him.
In a nutshell the present day administration is telling the entire citizen that she did not want to be hold accountable for her deed and any atrocities committed at large.
