When governments betray enduring inability to solve some
of the very basic needs of their people in order to end (or at least reduce)
their pains and suffering, and if also the democratic character of the heads of
such regimes have begun to badly wither, their impatience and irritation for
dissenting views will start growing with incredible speed as they see that in
the eyes and hearts of the citizenry, their esteem and appreciation are badly plummeting.
At such times, their desperation to gag the people will become
so palpable. It might even degenerate to a stage when merely speaking about
your pain and suffering could be viewed as “Hate Speech” – depending on who is
interpreting your complaint. After all, by talking about the hardship in the
land due to failed, misconceived policies, the collapse of infrastructure and
lack of basic amenities, you are portraying the government as a failure; that could
qualify as “Hate Speech,” and you could go in for it. So, to stay out of
trouble, you just have to act a “good citizen” by keeping quiet and suffering in
silence. You may never know, the hangman might be a yelling distance away! History
is replete with examples!
Another possible scenario might be that plans are probably
being perfected to unleash some very unpopular policies which will certainly
provoke widespread rejection. So, a law needs to be in place to prevent such a
reaction. A bill is, therefore, untidily knocked together by overzealous sympathisers
in the legislature to seize the people’s voice and send their freedom of
expression to the gallows. Could this really be the very trying situation that is
about to embrace Nigerians today? Are more perilous times really here or
unfolding?
At a time Nigerians are consumed by intense worry that their
freedom to express themselves as full citizens of this country is being
brazenly being taken away from them, and the laws of the land are losing the
capacity to protect them from the excesses of those in authority, a senator is
sponsoring an outrageous bill that proposes harsh sentences, including death
penalty and life imprisonment, for those found guilty of “hate speech”.
Entitled, “National
Commission For the Prohibition of Hate Speeches”, the bill which was
sponsored by the Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, Abdullahi Aliu Sabi (APC,
Niger State), proposes that “any person who commits an offence under this
section shall be liable to life imprisonment and where the act causes any loss
of life, the person shall be punished with death by hanging.”
According to Sabi’s bill, anybody who, in the
opinion of the “Hate Speech Commission,” (I suppose) is found to have
undertaken the following actions would be viewed as having indulged in “Hate
Speech.” He should be “a person who uses, 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 a 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 person from such an ethnic group in Nigeria.”
This bill clearly wants to kill and bury all
forms of public criticism, especially, against public officials, in this
country. How can a president or governor, for instance, who runs the country or
state aground not attract abuse or insults from the people whose future he has
callously mortgaged? Should such outpour of deserving public ridicule (which
happens against erring public officers all over the world) not, by the
provisions of this bill be categorised as “Hate Speech”? And what if a public analyst takes up the
matter and harshly criticises the public officer for abusing public trust; wouldn’t
that, by the definitions of “hate speech” in this bill nail the patriotic
commentator? And what if the corrupt public official arranges his tugs to
unleash mayhem to protest his portrayal in the media, and in the process, a
life is taken, wouldn’t that take a patriot to the gallows or give him a life
imprisonment for lamenting the destruction of his country or state by a
thieving public officer, while the wayward public officer retires to his
palatial home to enjoy wine with his accomplices in misgovernance?
Indeed, not even Idi Amin, despite his horrible
atrocities, could have conceived such a law for his country. We were all here
when the members and officials of the party that formed the present government
called President Goodluck Jonathan all sorts of ugly names that badly
denigrated his character. And when he kept faith with the universal tenet of allowing
people to enjoy their freedom of expression which is one of the most essential ingredients
of democratic practice, some people called him a weakling. He was called
“clueless,” “kindergarten president” and other diminishing names by the same
people that are in power today.
But now, from these same people, an
all-devouring monster called “hate speech” bill is coming out today to
criminalise the very freedom they had enjoyed and utilised to get into power. Although,
this is not a whole-scale assessment of the Jonathan regime, but one can only
hope that it would occur to the ruling party that they would not be in office
for ever. They should not create a monster that would turn around to consume
them tomorrow. They met a free Nigeria, they should not be allowed to put her and
her citizens in chains! Nobody was compelled
to seek a leadership position in a democratic setting, and whoever is unable to
stand the heat that goes with it, can gently excuse himself from it.
Already, another bill has passed Second
Reading in the senate which seeks to regulate the use of the social media by
the citizens to express themselves and hold their leaders accountable. Informed
citizens are suspecting that these draconian laws may be used to plant such
deep fears in the people that they would now be compelled to suffer in silence
instead of voicing out their feeling. Never mind that there are laws already in
our status books with which people can seek redress if citizens defame one another in the course of
expressing themselves. The wounded person has the option of seeking redress, and
a duly constituted court would now look into the various angles of the case and
award appropriate judgment.
But, it does seem that, to the sponsors of
these bills, the extant laws are incapable of achieving the “clamp down” and
“quick kill” effect they appear to crave which will create so much fear and
trepidation in the land and cow the people into silence, driving everyone into
his or her hole. Nigerians are already lamenting that the present government is
too large and unwieldy, with so many ministers, special assistants and
advisers, many of which appear to have overlapping functions, whose sustenance
is sucking the treasury dry. Is the senate going to pass a bill that seeks to
further bloat the bureaucracy by setting up a commission for the prohibition of
“hate speech”?
Another major fear is that if the senate
passes this bill, it could easily become a crude tool in the hands of the agents
of an intolerant government to deal ruthlessly with its critics and members of
the opposition. Already, we have seen cases of journalists still being detained
despite unambiguous court pronouncement ordering for their release. What has
the senate said about this untoward situation? Why is there is such great
interest in restricting people’s freedom than guaranteeing it.
In its editorial of November 21, 2019,
PUNCH newspaper called on the Senate
to “quash the bill immediately.” According to the newspaper, “lawmakers should
aspire to take the country into the club of successful liberal democracies. It
is only autocratic and theocratic states that criminalise free speech, Nigeria
is neither. The space should be made more robust for popular participation, not
restricted to shield temporary occupants of public office from criticism or
alternative views. The country is floundering, wracked by insecurity, poverty,
lack of infrastructure and functional social services; more than ever before,
therefore, citizens need to be encouraged in this multinational and
multicultural society to ventilate their views.”
Indeed, the most effective antidote to public criticisms
is good and selfless governance that makes life easier for the populace. Repressive
laws can only compound the problem and isolate Nigeria from the comity of
cvilised nations.
*First
published in Daily Independent of Monday, November 25, 2019 (back page)
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