CHAPTER ONE

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

No doubt, every country must have its assessment from time to time. This could either be from the citizens, international bodies, (e.g United Nations) or the government itself. The assessment might come in form of praises or criticism from citizens, depending on how the government have effectively ruled the nation. To criticize a government, the use of constructive criticism will be advisable.

The state is the individual writ at large, so just as individuals within it assess one another, so also do they assess the performance of their government which is that agent through which the will and vital interests of the state are expressed and protected. The views and thoughts held by the people towards their government is what we called public opinion. (Aganaba, 2012).

There are basically two types of public opinions which is positive or negative public opinion basically expressed on the perception of the individual.

Constructive criticism is a means of offering valid and well-reasoned opinions about the works of others, usually involving both positive and negative comment in a friendly manner rather than an oppositional one. In collaborative works this kind of criticism is often of valuable tool in raising and maintaining performance standard.

Destructive criticism is a kind of criticism done with the intention to harm someone or destroy the person’s reputation, prestige or self-esteem.

In Nigeria all criticism no matter how well intentioned is seen as a war against the government of the day and its policies, if not its officials because of the over use of negative, nagging criticism, some people become defensive even when receiving constructive criticism given in the spirit of good will. (Aganaba, 2012).

Hate speech involves attacks on a person or group on the basis of attributes such as gender, ethnic origin, religion, race, disability, or sexual orientation. In law, hate speech is any speech, gesture or conduct, writing, or display which is forbidden because it may incite violence or prejudicial action against or by a protected individual or group, or because it disparages or intimidates a protected individual or group (Ukwueze and Uche, 2015). Hate speeches are speeches that ridicules or attack an individual or a group of people. In the law of some countries, hate speech is speech, gesture or conduct, writing, or display which is forbidden because it incites violence or prejudicial action against or by a protected individual or group, or because it disparages or intimidates a protected individual or group. The law may identify a protected group by certain characteristics (Nockleby, 2000). Television as a mass medium has the greatest credibility among the mass media due to its ability to transmit motion pictures as well as audio messages. It has been describes as the medium with the greatest effect on the audience because the information from it can be seen and heard. The television media in the country played a huge role in the propagation of hate speeches during the 2015 general elections campaigns in the country. Politicians, knowing the powerful effect of the medium, used various television channels to attack their opponents and other political parties.

A bill prescribing death by hanging for any person found guilty of any form of hate speech that results in the death of another person has received the first reading at the Senate. The bill, sponsored by the Senate spokesperson, Sabi Abdullahi (Niger-APC), seeks the establishment of an Independent National Commission for Hate Speeches. The proposed commission would enforce hate speech laws across the country, and ensure the “elimination” of hate speech, the bill says. For offences such as harassment on grounds of ethnicity or race, the offender shall be sentenced to “not less than a five-year jail term or a fine of not less than N10 million or both.”

The bill proposes that, “A person who uses, publishes, presents, produces, plays, provides, distributes and/or directs the performance of any material, written and/or visual, which is threatening, abusive or insulting or involves the use of threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior” commits an offence.

The charge would be justified if such a person intends to stir up “ethnic hatred”. The bill has gone through the first reading. Mr. Abdullahi said cases of religious and ethnic violence experienced in the past years in Nigeria informed his decision to sponsor the bill. Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES Friday, Mr. Abdullahi said the bill proposes various ‘mechanisms’ to prevent cases of death which emanate from hate speeches. “For me, it’s in response to the series of events. With all intents and purposes, it is motivated by what we term hate speech in the real technical sense,” he said.

In the past couple of years in this country, hate speech is driven by many variables; the issue of religion and ethnicity and because of that, a lot of lives have been lost. They question I want to ask is why.

“Why must I die because I am somebody and somebody somewhere feels otherwise and makes statement that at the end of the day provokes intense anger and rage leading to violence, breakdown of law and order and I lose my life, my family, and sometimes I never even get to recover and nobody is even punished?

This is becoming a contemporary problem if you look at it in the past couple of years. It is assuming a dangerous dimension for us to ignore. I am of the opinion that we must learn from history. There are lots of cases where violence that is unusual either from individuals or groups was actually motivated by hate speeches.

“I sat and I said we just have to find a way of having a system in place that will systematically address this issue and get people to realise that is the way to go.

The bill is not really looking at the policy side, there are lots of mechanism to moderate our discourse, engagement in a manner that we don’t overheat the polity and in the process endanger other people’s lives,” he said.

The Buhari administration has in recent months pledged tougher actions against hate speech, amid rampant abuse mostly on the social media. Last month, the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, said hate speech offenders would be punished in accordance with the 2011 Anti-Terrorism Act. He was speaking at a conference of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Kano. Last year, the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, announced a bill against hate speech had been submitted to the justice ministry for onward transmission to the National Assembly. (https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/260466-new-senate-bill-proposes-death-sentence-hate-speech.html)

It is not clear whether the bill would be an amendment of the 2011 Anti-Terrorism Act, or an entirely new bill.

“That draft speech contains the laws and punishment for hate speech. Hate speech should not be allowed in this country, everybody is entitled to belong to the religion he believes in,” Mr. Dambazau said.

“I mean people don’t choose the tribe to be, that’s how God brought him and there is absolutely no reason for hate speech. So, if the national assembly passes that law, certainly anybody who is engaged in hate speech will be prosecuted in accordance with the law. (https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/260466-new-senate-bill-proposes-death-sentence-hate-speech.html)

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The Nigerian government has always not wanted criticism at all, whether constructive or destructive. This can be seen both in the military and recently democratic regime. In recent times, the Nigerian government has begun to make moves against criticism. Either form of criticism is understood as hate speech which is termed a criminal offense punishable by death. The nature of ethno-religious hate-speech in Nigeria makes the use of legal regulations unsuitable. Moreover, due to the endemic nature of the act both in offline spaces and online forums, a regulation restricting internet access or proscribing hate-speech online will be difficult to implement in a politically fractured nation as Nigeria. Moreover, hate speech which is a significant part of this problem, has been a major  troubling issue afflicting Nigeria with tremendous negative force, shaking the foundation of the country’s unity and further damaging the weak internal cohesion Hence, there is a need for creative solutions to address these challenges. There are several avenues to confront and change ethno-religious stereotypes that lead to hate-speech