Hate Speech Bill: Are You Mad? – Nnamdi Kanu’s Counsel Asks Buhari
A Counsel to the leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, Barrister Aloy Ejimakor has berated the Muhammadu Buhari-administration for initiating the hate speech bill.
The legal practitioner criticised the Nigerian president’s “tribalism” while also accusing his government of “murdering innocent IPOB members”.
Ejimakor wrote on his known Twitter handle on Friday: “Buhari’s crass TRIBALISM promotes HATE more than the worst form of any
#HateSpeech . You promote hate by murdering the INNOCENTS (#IPOB ) while pampering the TERRORISTS. You hate & persecute Ndigbo, and when they react with strong words, you call it Hate Speech. Are you mad?”
Buhari’s crass TRIBALISM promotes HATE more than the worst form of any #HateSpeech. You promote hate by murdering the INNOCENTS (#IPOB) while pampering the TERRORISTS. You hate & persecute Ndigbo, and when they react with strong words, you call it Hate Speech. Are you mad?
— aloy ejimakor (@AloyEjimakor) November 22, 2019
What Governors Said About Hate Speech Bill
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has condemned the proposed death penalty for flouting Hate Speech .
According to the governors, the National Assembly should hold a public hearing on the bill to ensure that the views of Nigerians were captured in the passage of the bill.
NGF Vice Chairman and Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, gave the advice while fielding questions from newsmen at the end of the forum meeting held on Wednesday night in Abuja.
The Sokoto governor advised the federal lawmakers to respect the views of Nigerians on the bill.
“I am not sure I have heard any governor come out to say he is in support of the death penalty for hate speech.
“I believe the National Assembly should hold a public hearing on that bill so that due process of lawmaking is followed, so that the views of Nigerians not just the governors will be well captured on that bill.
“They should respect the views of Nigerians in whatever may be the direction of debate and the eventual passage or otherwise of that bill,” Tambuwal said.
According to the Nigerian government, fake news and hate speech could trigger “national conflagration”, hence, the need to regulate social media especially.