By Ishaya Ibrahim
Human and economic rights advocacy group, Spaces for Change, has said that the intent of the Hate Speech bill and the Social Media bill is to harm the Nigerians that criticise the government.
At a press conference to commemorate this year’s Human Rights Day, executive director, Victoria Ohaeri, said the punishment prescribed for offenders in the bill was like using a sledgehammer to kill a fly, and that could only mean an intent to harm.
She said the Hate Speech Bill is flawed fundamentally, especially as it seeks to set up a commission that would have an office apartment and staff.
This, she said, is not good for Nigeria’s financial situation where recurrent spending is more than twice the amount allocated for critical developmental purposes.
She said the bill, originally titled National Commission for the Prohibition of Hate Speeches bill, uses expressions that could give rise to different readings and interpretations.
For instance, she said the section on the offence of publishing or distributing threatening or abusive material to stir ethnic hatred could be used maliciously to harm innocent Nigerians who make honest comments.
She gave the example of how in her foreign travels, she is asked about the staggering number of out of school children in Nigeria and the high incidences of child marriages.
She said such honest response like ‘the problem is mainly in the northern part of the country,’ could be interpreted to mean an intent to stir ethnic hatred.
“The offence is broad and anything could go into it,” she said.
Besides, she said section 42 of the constitution already protect Nigerians from discrimination based on ethnic, gender, religion and circumstances of birth ( eg born out of wedlock).
She also said Nigeria has laws against defamation. She cited the Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s case on defamation against President Muhammadu Buhari’s special assistant on social media, Lauretta Onochie, for allegedly defaming him via her Twitter and Facebook page as proof that there are laws enough to deal with the problem.
For the Protection from Internet Falsehoods, Manipulations and Other Related Matters bill 2019, popularly known as the social media bill, Ohaeri said it is laden with many mines.
She said the social media bill is also broad, allowing for anything to go in.
For instance, one of the sections reads: “Offence of transmission of false statements that might affect the security or any part of Nigeria. Punishment for this is N300,000 or three years imprisonment or both (for individuals) and a fine not exceeding N10 million (for corporate organisations”
She said many organisations and individuals that watched the State Security Service (SSS) scuffle with Omoyele Sowore in court on December 6 issued statements based on the video, reprimanding the SSS for invading the court.
The SSS later issued a statement, alleging that it was Sowore and his supporters that were wrestling themselves and not its agents.
She said based on the SSS denial, an organisation could be fined N10 million, a sum many organisations including the media might be unable to pay.
The bill also criminalizes opening of parody account, a humour account that mocks public officeholders.
Ohaeri said such a move is unnecessary since the accounts are an only parody and have entertainment and information value.
The bill also empowers law enforcement agencies to block internet access to an entire community in trying to suppress false information spread.
She said the collateral impact of such powers to security agencies would result in crippling of people’s businesses and social life.
She said the bill is not necessary because the cybercrime act covers it. She added that the authors of the social media bill lifted sections 22, 24 and 26 of the cybercrime act. Besides, she said the bill contravenes section 37 of the constitution.
She lamented that Nigeria’s human rights situation is bad enough. She said adding new laws to stifle freedom of speech and opinion, and arrest protesters and marchers would only breed more agitations.
