Newspaper owners to Senate: Stop social media bill

The Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria, NPAN, has added its voice to the growing dissent over a bill pending before the Senate titled ‘Bill for an Act to Prohibit Frivolous Pettitions and Other Related Matters Connected Therewith, popularly reffered to as the Anti Social Media Bill, advising the lawmakers to immediately stop its consideration.

NPAN stated this in a statement issued by its president, Mr, Nduka Obaigbena, the publisher of Thisday Newspapers on Tuesday.

The statement reads: “The attention of the NPAN has been drawn to a so called Bill for an Act to Prohibit Frivolous Petitions and Other Matters Connected Therewith currently being considered in the Senate of The Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The NPAN urges the National Assembly to cease and desist from considering or passing any laws seeking to abridge constitutionally guaranteed free speech as such laws will not only be unconstitutional, they undermine our system of democracy and the rights we all fought for.

“We cannot because of a few irritations on the social media seek to clamp down on the rights of citizens to freely hold and share opinion on any platform.

“We believe any untruths should be confronted by facts not laws, and indeed the Freedom of Information Act should be enhanced to promote more openness in governance.”

Meanwhile, a coalition of civil society groups and publishers of various online media in Nigeria, on Tuesday, staged a peaceful protest to the National Assembly to express their grievances over the Frivolous Petitions and other related matters Bill.

Read also: Fight corruption not Social Media, CNPP tells Senate

The protesters, led by Aisha Yusuf, Anthony Ehilebo, Ariyo Atoye, Mukhtar Daniyan, and Ahmad Isa, insisted that the bill was designed to gag social media practitioners.

Senators Shehu Sani and Enyinnaya Abaribe, who addressed the protesters, assured them that the senate will not introduce any law that will gag Nigerians from freely expressing themselves.

Abaribe later laid the group’s letter on the floor of the senate and the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, directed the committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to investigate the claims of the protesters.

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