ABUJA, MARCH 9, 2018 – Senator Shehu Sani has said that the passage of the widely criticized hate speech bill sponsored by Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi of Niger State, will land many bloggers in jail. According to Sani, should the hate speech law be passed, prisons across the country will be filled with bloggers and critics of the government.
Shehu Sani also said, in as much as there should be a fight against hate speech, it should not be turned into a fight against free speech. He stated that if this bill is passed, Tyranny and terror will become state policy and the politicians clamouring for the law to be passed should know they will not be in power forever.
He wrote on Facebook;
“Most people in Power are intolerant to criticism and allergic to dissent to be trusted with a capital punishment for Hate speech.The law against Hate speech will be used against free speech.
Many critics and social media enthusiasts will end up in the gallows.Our condemned cells in the prisons will be filled with bloggers, critics and perceived political opponents.
We must fight Hate speech, Hate speech is a real threat to peace, unity and order of a nation but we must protect free speech.
Free speech is the shield of the oppressed.When you have state police and you have capital punishment for Hate speech, you will have tyranny and terror as a state policy.People in power should think twice about what they do with power as someday they will be out of power.
A democratic state must balance its security exigencies with its constitutional obligations and moral duty to uphold the rule of law and respect fundamental rights of its citizens.If you are in public office and you don’t want to be criticized or challenged, please dismount and go back to your family where you can be an imperial emperor.”
