Reps Urge Senate to Conduct Public Hearing at Geopolitical Zones on Hate speech Bill
POLITICS DIGEST – Some members of the House of Representatives have called on the Senate to carry out a public hearing in the six geopolitical zones across the country on the controversial hate speech bill.
The bill, sponsored by Senate Deputy Majority whip, Senator Abdullahi Sabi (APC, Niger) has drawn the ire of not a few Nigerians.
Speaking at the weekend at the interactive forum organised by the House of Representatives’ Press Corps on executive-legislature relationship, the lawmakers urged members of the upper chamber to have a rethink on the proposed legislation.
Chairman House Committee on Protocols, Treaties and Agreements, Hon Ossai Nicholas Ossai (PDP Delta) said if the Senate should seek opinion at the geopolitical zones by organising public hearings if it really wanted to know how majority of Nigerians felt about the bill. He said: “If the senate wants to feel the pulse of the nation on this hate speech bill, I will advise them to organise public hearings at the level of geopolitical zones and they will get the feedback.
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“But, as I have always said, this bill is not necessary because I believe we have adequate laws to take care of what the proponents of this bill are talking about. Why should someone be prescribing death sentence in the 21st century as punishment for hate speech? This is unheard of.”
Ossai reasoned that what Nigeria required at the moment was not a hate speech or social media regulation law, but good governance to deliver basic infrastructure and improve the economy to lessen the current hardship in the country.
Also speaking on the bill on the occasion, Hon. Dachung Musa Bagos (PDP Plateau) opined that the government must address the root cause of hate speech, which according to him was “bad governance and widespread poverty.” He said people who were distraught and did not know where their next meal would come from were bound to exude hate speech in their utterances. He said: “A man who is well fed and is enjoying the basic amenities of life will never think about causing disharmony in the society through hate speech.
But when things are not going on rightly people will naturally out of frustration voice out anger and that’s what breeds hate speech. “The people of my constituency have told me to speak against this bill when it comes to the House of Representatives because they do not support it, and I will rather advise the senate to withdraw this bill.
