Why I sponsored hate speech bill – Abdullahi

The sponsor of the hate speech bill, Sabi Abdullahi, said on Thursday he sponsored the bill because the defamation and libel laws in Nigeria were inadequate to tackle hate speech in the country.

Abdullahi, who is also the deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, stated this in a statement applauding the United Nation for supporting the National Assembly on the bill.

He argued that parliaments across the world have identified “hate speech as a new threat that dehumanizes and targets individuals and groups, and also threatens peace in a diversified society.”

According to him, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe had identified threats posed by hate speech to include exclusion among minority groups, alienation, marginalisation, the emergence of parallel societies, and ultimately radicalisation.

These, Abdullahi warned, are present features in the socio-dynamics of Nigeria as a nation which places the country on the brink of implosion from the effect of hate speech.

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He said given the complex dynamics associated with hate speech “the provisions of defamation and libel laws in Nigeria clearly lack the grip to tackle the dimensions of hate speech in acts such as victimization, marginalization and exclusion.”

He said: “The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in its resolutions contained in a publication titled: ‘The role and responsibilities of political leaders in combating hate speech and intolerance’ endorsed ‘criminal legislation’ to ‘prohibit and sanction’ hate speech.

“The publication said ‘the Assembly believes that a wide range of measures is necessary to counter hate speech, ranging from self-regulation, particularly by political movements and parties, and in the statutes and rules of procedure of national and local elected, bodies, to civil, administrative and criminal legislation prohibiting and sanctioning its use.”

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