Kidnappings, killings(ritual killings inclusive), banditry, violence, hunger and poverty now characterize the daily lives of Nigerians.
This has brought in its wake, exchange of abusive words, remarks and comments among citizens who hold opposing views. In the light of this, the private bill sponsored by the Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, Sabi Abdullahi is currently before the senate. The bill recommends the death penalty for promoters of hate speech. In this interview , the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke advises President Muhammadu Buhari not to be misled into turning Nigeria into a totalitarian state. Excerpts :
What is your reaction to the hate speech bill presently before the Senate ?
The issue of Democracy in Nigeria vis-a-vis the expected functionality of the structure of the Judiciary, Legislature and the Executive, is always a welcome idea for any nation to drift towards development and peace.
Democratic practice is therefore expected to be interactive within the government structure and between government and the people who gave them the mandate to serve. The impact of the democratic dispensation is expected to be inclusive when all the stakeholders do things the right way, in an environment of transparency and accountability, the result is expected to be high for the people’s appreciation.
When the situation is to the contrary , like is the case in Nigeria, whereby the dividends of democracy is more than 70 per cent index and a regime of kleptocracy among the elite who govern us, the issue of hate speech may begin to establish itself, not only from the people who are badly affected economically and security wise, but by the opposition parties who would seize the advantage of the bad situation to downplay the government and market themselves as preferred alternatives.
In Yorubaland, our elders would proverbially describe hate speech as a musical rhythm between the offended parties that would ever turn music into an abuse directed from one to the other.
Even when the military was in power, the various regimes attracted international sanctions of sorts, whenever they made attempts to use a sledge hammer to kill an ant, such as clamping down on the voices of dissent.
President Muhammadu Buhari once expressed his views on democracy in a piece written by Rev. Hassan Kukah of the Sokoto Catholic Diocese.
He had said ‘’ When I was a military man, I arrested all the thieves and put them in protective custody, I asked them to go and prove their innocence. Now, I have been told that even though I can see the thieves, I cannot arrest them. I must take them to court and prove that they are guilty’’.
One can now pity Mr. President in this precarious situation in which he is now faced with frustrations of bureaucratic bottlenecks in his desire to cleanse the system and restore the lost values, in a viscose environment of hate speeches from all angles, from deceleration, rather than acceleration, insecurity rather than security. Cries of unemployment, rather than employment and the ugly attacks from corruption by the cartel and cabal, who employ all tactics including the wrong use of the social media to run down President Buhari and his government.
Only few Nigerians keep mute in the face of unpleasantness, while others who are equally innocent but do not have the strength to fight the cartel and cabal, are vociferous enough to vent out their opinions while trying to address the injustice in the land and the various violations of human rights of citizens.
However, uneasy lies the head that wears the crown, justly or unjustly, we must realize that people have different types of temperament and emotional out bursts to express their disagreement with the pace of development that they may consider too slow.
Hate speech therefore, is not uncommon, even at the home front level, community, state and national , where development can only silent the voice of dissent, which would continue to challenge government to do the needful and force all sub-systems to work accordingly.
Hate speech, therefore, should not attract the death penalty because the remote cause which is corrupt enrichment has not been strengthened into the death penalty sanction level. Hate speech needs to be classified into mere abuse, libel, treasonable felony of mere disrespect for either an individual or constituted authority.
It must not boil down to a state of witch hunting for perceived enemies or fiend of the state.
Government therefore, needs to intensify its efforts to restore the lost values, eradicate corruption, poverty and hunger and create employment opportunities to arrest youth restiveness. This is to prevent social reactions from snowballing into violence, militancy, insurgence or war.When people go through difficult times, the head of affairs and those who are at the helm of affairs shall ever be the target of blame until the solution is sought, found or prof erred.
President Buhari is the father of all, it is on to him all the needy in the land will seek solutions to their problems and when when same is been delayed human patience may be stretched to its elastic limit, and this could create an ungovernable environment for the leader to bear, hence our President must not allow some people to mislead him to adopt a totalitarian system of government, but must remain a democrat. This would go a long way to assist him to ensure the functionality of values such as inclusiveness, due process, debate, consensus of opinions, argumentation, negotiation, persuasion, sociological structure, transparency and accountability.
The situation in Nigeria today, in which more than a hundred million Nigerians are wallowing in abject poverty, minimum wage earners are still battling with $98 or N30,000 for their survival in an environment where Billions of Naira are siphoned overseas, lovers of justice and the downtrodden would ever query the President on how he has been presiding the affairs of the country without ensuring that those who go against the law go to jail, to allow for sanity in the country.
We must not allow Nigeria to turn into a state with tyrannical laws, otherwise Fascism and Totalitarianism would be regarded as a replacement for our cherished Democracy which is yet to yield the required dividend of justice, equity, peace , prosperity and sustainable development with guaranteed safe and secured habitation.
Let the National Orientation Agency(NOA) be well acquainted with government programs and projects, as a step towards sensitizing members of the public without falsehood and let our clerics educate their adherents on the need to avoid hate speech, but with all assurances that government would fall in line with the 17 point agenda of the United Nations charges for all nations on the issue of sustainable development. Drop the hate speech bill in order not to turn Nigeria into a fascist state.
Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari, Totalitarianism,
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