President Muhammadu Buhari has dissociated himself and his administration from the controversial bill titled An Act to Prohibit Frivolous Petitions and Other Connected Therewith.
In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said “the President has promised to defend the constitution of Nigeria he swore to uphold and wouldn’t assent to any legislation that may be inconsistent with the constitution of Nigeria.”
According to the President, “Free speech is central to democratic societies anywhere in the world. Without free speech, elected representatives won’t be able to gauge public feelings and moods about governance issues. As a key component of democratic principles, people in democratic societies are so emotionally attached to free speech that they would defend it with all their might.”
Shehu noted that Buhari t is fully aware of the people’s discontent about the proposed social media bill, assuring that there’s no cause for panic “as the Senate is a democratic senate.”
It has been widely criticised by Nigerians as a way to curb freedom of speech, particularly on social media, and punish critics of the government and lawmakers.
The draft bill was proposed by Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah from the ruling All People’s Congress party (APC). It has already passed a second reading at the Senate and there will be a public hearing on the bill before it can be passed.
If the bill becomes law, people “who intentionally propagate false information or abusive statements (through text message, Twitter, WhatsApp, etc) that could threaten the security of the country or that is capable of inciting the general public against the government through electronic message” could be jailed for up to seven years and fined up to 5m Naira.
Freedom of speech is the right to communicate one’s opinions and ideas without fear of government retaliation or censorship. It is a basic human right and an essential component of any democracy.
Freedom of speech enables citizens to exchange views and information, to protest against injustice, to influence the public discourse, and to criticize the actions of the government.
