Issues
Hate Speech Emanates From Hate Agenda, Policy
Now, the hate speech debate has added to the number of debates in the country; such as the fading rural and urban grazing areas (RUGA), restructuring, etc. The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria recently introduced a bill which seeks to establish a Federal Government Agency to check and regulate hate speech in the country and the matter is generating hot debate across the country. Majority of Nigerians have spoken against the bill.
The bill prescribed death by hanging as maximum punishment for certain categories of offenders. Other categories of offenders are liable to 10 years jail term or payment of N10 million fine. The offenders are those who use their tongues, or publish, produce, present, provide, play, distribute or direct performance of any written or visual that stir up ethnic hatred, hostility, violence or cause the death of fellow Nigerians.
The bill is sponsored by the Deputy Senate Chief Whip, Senator Sabi Aliyu Abdullahi. The proposed bill is an assault on democracy and democracy loving people of Nigeria. It is an affront to those who risk their lives to fight for the enthronement of democracy and liberty in Nigeria. It is childish, unconstitutional and undemocratic. The bill is barbarous, obnoxious, draconian, horrendous and totally unacceptable to Nigerians. It is sacrilegious and condemnable. The freedom of speech as enshrined in section 39 (3) in the Nigerian Constitution is sacrosanct.
I think the sponsor of the bill is ignorant of what democracy entails. Perhaps he does not know that the best baby of democracy is the freedom of speech. That democracy allows all people to speak their minds at all times, whether it is hate or love, sense or nonsense, criticism or praise, condemnation or commendation. That as the creator allows all human beings, rich or poor, educated and uneducated etc to co-exist and co-habit, so does democracy. May be, he is not aware that the law of defamation, slander, libel etc takes care of hate speech and all that. He may not know, that there is right to refute and needs for apology. Besides all that, we have the Nigerian Communication Act and Cyber Crime Act. Are these not enough to take care of hate speech, if enforced?
I am sure Senator Abdullahi is not alone in this diabolic hate speech bill. There are people behind him and they have ulterior motives. They know their plans and what they want to achieve in 2023. So, they want to make all of us dumb now before the time. So that when they start displaying their barbaric political acrobatics in 2023, we will be watching them like dumb people without uttering a word as nobody would want to be hanged or pay 10 million naira fine. But for sure their plans will fail.
Nigerians feel circumvented and betrayed that the National Assembly which is the heart of democracy and major representatives of the people should be in the forefront of those attempting to murder the freedom speech, the finest baby of democracy. Unhallowed hate speech bill (freedom of speech) now lying in the hallowed Red Chamber waiting to be murdered is against democracy and the people of Nigeria. It is to muzzle and deprive Nigerians their constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of speech. It is sad that this is happening in the 8th Senate, under Buhari and the APC government. Something we did not experience in 16 years of PDP rule, not even under the military governments of Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha; and not also under the June 12 madness. Why is it happening now under Buhari’s democracy? Could this be the resurrection of Decree Nos. 2 and 4? Is that our expectation in this “Next Level”?
Now, what law will the senate make for those who promote hate agenda and those who execute hate policy in the country? Because through hate agenda and policy that hate speech emanates. Without hate agenda and policy there will be no hate speech. What do you expect when people from a section of the country speaks, behaves and act as if they own the country. What do you expect when people from section of the country kill Nigerians with impunity. What do you expect when a leader who should see himself as a father and leader of all, sees himself as a father and leader of a section of the country and packaged juicy and sensitive positions for them. Will these not generate anger and hate speech?
It started when the Fulani herdsmen began to behave as if they own the country and killed Nigerians any how that people reminded them that they immigrated from Senegambia in the 1880s. Could that be hate speech? Tongue is not wicked until it is provoked. My people say if a masquerade over displays, harasses and intimidates people at the dancing arena, people will be compelled to display ordinary tree with which it was carved as a masquerade. This is where hate speech comes in. So, if the Senate is looking for people to hang, they should direct their search toward the murderous Fulani herdsmen. There are also many arrested Boko Haram and bandit murderers, let them hang them first, before looking for mere provoked hate speakers.
More so, how do people feel when a section of the country produced the President of the country, the Senate President, the Senate Leader, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, the President of the Court of Appeal, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, the Attorney General and Minister Of Justice. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Accountant General of the Federation, the Chief of Staff to the President, the Chief of Army Staff, the Chief of Air Staff, the Inspector General of Police, Minister of Defence, the Comptrollers-General of Customs, Immigrations, Prisons and National Security Adviser.
Others were the Heads of DSS, NIA, DIA, NNPC, DPR, NPA, FAAN, NCAA, NDIC, NRC, PENCOM, AMCON, NUC, NEMA, NSPM, BPE, NBC, UBEC, NPHDA, NHIS, FERMA, NPHDA, TETFUND, NTDA, NAICON, INEC, EFCC, NTA, FRCN etc. Will these lopsided appointments in favour of a section of the country generate love speech or hate speech? If every section of the country is treated well and equal, there will be no hate speech.
It is the ethnic agenda and policy such as this that promotes hatred and hate speech in the country. I, therefore, urge the Senate to make a law to checkmate lopsided appointments in Nigeria. If the president of Nigeria is from the North, the Senate president should come from the South, if the Chief Justice of Nigeria is from the South, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice should come from the North; If the Chief of Army staff is from the North, the Inspector General of Police should come from the South and so on. The balanced position will make people happy and stop hate speech in the county.
Lest I forget, President Muhammadu Buhari recently raised alarm that the trillions of naira budgeted for the constituency projects across the country in the past 10 years have no reflection on the people and the constituencies they represent. Thus, the Senate should enact a law by hanging for any senator, other legislators and public office holders who involve in extortion and embezzlement of public funds and in the process impoverish his fellow Nigerians to die by hanging. This is more important to me and Nigerians than mere hate speech. What is hate speech?
Ogbuehi, a journalist and pro-democracy activist, wrote in from Eagle Island, Port Harcourt.
This is an open letter to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike.
Your Excellency,
Sir, ordinarily, I would not be writing an open letter to you, but like a wise man once said, “Silence would be Treason.” So I prefer to stay alive than face the consequences of silence in the face of crime. With each passing day, and as the socio-political tides continue to turn, it has become more pertinent that more people speak up in a concerted MANNER to prevent the death of our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as we appear to be, in the words of W. B. Yeats, “turning and turning in the widening gyre” heading for an end where the falcon will no longer hear the falconer
It is unfortunate that since losing control of the Federal Government, with the loss of President Goodluck Jonathan at the poll in 2015, our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has continued on a downward spiral. It is much more painful, that where it is expected that leaders within the party should rise to the challenge and put an end to this decline of our great party, some have instead taken up roles as its undertaker.
It will be hypocritical to claim aloofness to what I believe is your grouse with the PDP and I am not a hypocrite. It will be uncharitable on my part to discountenance the role you have played in strengthening the PDP from 2015 up until the last Presidential primaries of the party. It is my belief that your grouse against certain members of the party who you perceived worked against the party and abandoned it in 2015 and then came around much later to take control of the party, is justified. Also know that your decision to remain in the Party and stifle its progress on the other hand, as a sort of payback, stands condemned. For a man of your pedigree and stature, it is a dishonorable act, highly dishonorable and stands as testimony against all you claim to stand for.
At least, it can be argued that those who you hold this grudge against, abandoned the party completely and did not sit back while actively working to destroy it from within. But what then can be the argument on your own part, seeing that those you are currently working with against your party are the same people who set in motion, and executed surgically, the plans that not only ended our Party’s leadership at the centre, but ended up dislodging the first Niger Deltan to occupy Aso Rock as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Is this not akin to “cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face?” That will be worse than folly. Let us not throw away the baby with the bath water because we do not like the soap used in bathing the baby. It will be a grave mistake.
Honourable Minister, sir, it is rather unfortunate that of all people, you have also decided to play the role of an undertaker not only for our party, but for our dear Rivers State.
I will like to take you down memory lane a little. Let me remind you of your emergence as Guber candidate of the PDP in Rivers State, against all fairness and justice in 2014. You will remember that despite the reality being that you as an Ikwerre man was poised to replace a fellow Ikwerre man in Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in our multiethnic state, Rivers people overwhelmingly stood by you and pushed for your emergence as Executive Governor of Rivers State in 2015. I dare say that your popularity in the entire Niger Delta region was at an all-time high at this point.
I want you to understand why you were loved across board leading to your eventual emergence as Governor of Rivers State in 2015; it was because when it looked like all were against the second term ambitions of the first Niger Delta man to emerge as President of Nigeria, you became not just a pillar but a beacon of resistance by standing for Goodluck Jonathan. Rivers people, as grateful and rewarding as they can be, paid you back by ensuring your electoral victory against the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) led by your predecessor. On your emergence, where there were second term Governors in the region, you, a first term Governor, was seen by the people as not just the leader of the PDP, but the leader of the entire Niger Delta region. You earned it, and no one could dispute it.
In 2019, when your re-election bid was being challenged ferociously, Rivers people once again stood solidly behind you. Many were killed in the process of defending your votes. Do you remember Dr. Ferry Gberegbe that was shot and killed while trying to protect your votes in Khana Local Government Area? There are many more unnamed and unrecognised sons and daughters of Rivers State who sacrificed their lives so that you could emerge as a second term Governor of Rivers State.
In 2022/23, Honourable Minister, you oversaw a party primary across board that saw some candidates imprisoned and internal party democracy jettisoned for your wishes, leading to the emergence of flag bearers of our party all singlehandedly picked by you. You have on more than one occasion publicly stated that you paid for all their forms. Even those shortchanged in this process licked their wounds and continued to play their roles as party members to ensure the success of the party at all levels. In what will go down as one of the most keenly contested elections in recent Rivers history, with formidable candidates like Senator Magnus Abe of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr Tonye Cole of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the vibrant youth driven Labour Party (LP), PDP emerged victorious across board except for Phalga Constituency 1 that was lost to the Labour Party. (Not that you did not loose in some other LGA’s but let’s stick to the official figures declared by INEC).
It begs the question, why then do you want to burn down Rivers State, when everyone who now holds political office emerged through a process designed and endorsed by you? Is it that you do not care about Rivers people and you are all about yourself? If so, I am forced to believe that those around you are not telling you the truth. The truth being that in a state where your words were law; where houses and businesses could be demolished or closed down without any recourse to legalities, where Executive Orders could be deployed to stifle the opposition, that your popularity is now at an all-time low. Probably because they are afraid of you, or of losing the benefits they gain from you, they fail to tell you that what you might perceive as a battle against your successor, has slowly but gradually degenerating into a battle against Rivers State and Rivers people. You know, there is a popular saying that, a man can cook for the community and the community will finish the food, but when a community decides to cook for one man, the reverse is the case.
LEAVE FUBARA ALONE
You have gone on and on about being betrayed by Governor Siminalayi Fubara. You point fingers forgetting that some of those same fingers quick to spot betrayals point straight back at you. It is not Governor Fubara that has betrayed the PDP by working against it in the just concluded General Election, and working with the opposition at the State and Federal level to destabilise the party. It is you, Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that betrayed Rivers people by instigating a political crisis with propensity to escalate ethnic tensions in Rivers State. It is you Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that has declared himself God over all in Rivers State and has no qualms with burning the state to the ground to prove a point. It is you Honourable Minister. It is you Honourable Minister who told the world that the APC was a cancer and you can never support a cancerous party. It is you Honourable Minister who ended up facilitating the emergence of the same “cancerous” APC that has accelerated the economic decline of this country and further impoverished our people with no remorse. All so you can be a Minister of the Federal Capital Territory? The lack of self awareness is gobsmacking.
Some days back I came across a video where you talked about death and how you do not cry when you hear about the death of some people because you have no idea what might have caused it considering many a politician swear “over dead bodies” and still go back on their words. Those words made me think, and I could see the reason behind them. You see, in chosing to be God in the affairs of Rivers people, you have closed your eyes and ears to reason; you see nothing and hear nothing that can cause you to rethink on the path you have chosen. In your quest to “show Fubara” you have unwittingly united a vast majority of Rivers people behind him, so much that even those who despised him because of you, now like or love him, because of you too. In your scheming, I will advise you not to forget that “the voice of the people is the voice of God”.
Note that the war which you have or are waging against Governor Fubara, has gone beyond being merely political as you might see in your minds eye. It is now one that, fortunately for some and unfortunately for others, has evolved into a war against Rivers people. It is good to point out that no one has taken a stand against Rivers people and won. No one has gone against God and won. In your defiant characteristic manner, it will be unfortunate if you believe your own hubris and that of those around you on the possibility of you being the first to successfully go against Rivers people. It will be a needless gamble; one where if you win you create more enemies for yourself than you can withstand on your political journey, and if you lose, your legacy becomes an inglorious and irredeemable one in Rivers State, the Niger Delta, and Nigeria at large. For your sake as regards posterity, it is my greatest wish that you have a moment of sobriety and a deep reflection and introspection on this path you have chosen.
Honourable Minister, sir, what is left of your legacy is on the brink of being completely desecrated and relegated to the dustbin of our political history, and it will be a sad end to what I will say has been a wonderful political career that many can only dream of. The ball is in your court, and may God Almighty have mercy on us all and forgive us for our shortcomings.
Gabriel Baritulem Pidomson
Dr Pidomson is former Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt and former member, Rivers State House of Assembly.
In 2015, I made a conscious decision to invest my financial resources, my time, and energy into supporting Nyesom Wike’s gubernatorial campaign. I poured my heart and soul into ensuring Nyesom Wike emerged victorious even at the risk of my personal safety.
Again in 2019, I doubled down on my commitment. I invested a significant amount of money to procure campaign outfits for all twenty-three Local Governments Areas of Rivers State. I spared no expense in supplementing Wike’s election efforts in my own local government, and once again putting myself at great risk to safeguard the fairness and transparency of the electoral process.
However, despite my unwavering loyalty and sacrifices, I found myself abandoned and forgotten by Wike. Throughout his eight-year tenure, he failed to acknowledge my contributions or fulfill his promises and agreements. Even as a former Deputy Governor, Wike denied me my severance benefit.
My investment in Wike’s governorship was not just financial – it was a commitment of passion, dedication, and belief in a better future for Rivers State. Yet, his leadership style of dishonesty, greed, drunkenness and rash abuse of senior citizens brought me nothing but disappointment, misery and losses.
By the grace of God, today I speak not as a victim, but as a hero. I have accepted my losses, and I have moved on. And as I reflect on my experience, I cannot help but urge Wike to do the same and allow peace and development to reign in Rivers State.
Nyesom Wike, when you speak of investing in Governor Sim Fubara’s election, remember those like me who also invested in you. Remember the sacrifices I made, the risks I took, and the promises and agreements you left unfulfilled.
It is time for you, Wike, to let go of the past and allow Governor Sim Fubara the breathing space he needs to lead Rivers State forward. Allow him to focus on the challenges of good governance and the aspirations of the people. Spare him these unwarranted and ill-conceived political manoeuvrings founded on personal agenda and not for general good of Rivers State and her people.
I may have lost my investment on Wike, but I have not lost hope in the future of Rivers State. And together, we will continue to strive for a brighter tomorrow.
Long Live the Governor to Rivers State, Sir Siminialayi Fubara!
Long Live the Good People of Rivers State!!
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!
Engr Ikuru is former Deputy Governor of Rivers State.
Tele Ikuru
