Except the political parties in Nigeria want to be economical with the truth, none of them is free from the so-called hate speech. They verbally tear at one another with venom. But observers congregate on the opinion that it all began with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
What we see nowadays is a situation where a ruling party will be committing atrocities against the people and against the state, and at the same time intimidating people and threatening them with arrest and prosecution for verbalising their frustration.
Observers believe that the current APC government at the centre is quick to shout hate speech, but its actions and inactions are manifestly anti-people.
“If a government policy is pro-people, it would be talked about and praised, but if otherwise, it would receive castigation. You don’t beat a child and deny him the luxury of crying. That is what the APC-led government wants to do. But that cannot be possible,” Francis Ali, a publicist, said.
A public affairs analyst, Ayo Oyoze-Baje, noted: “Ordinarily, candidates to the various posts should be telling us what exactly they hope to do; to better our lives. But what do we read on the pages of newspapers, the online media and see on our television screen these days? Most posts and comments are nothing but murk-raking; vile-filled vituperation with character assassination, insults, innuendoes and the so-called hate speech.
“Old files are being dusted up and sooty cupboards flung open to reveal some dark and ghoulish skeletons!”
Ibikunle Amosun, who is embroiled in political schism with the national leadership of his party, who has also vowed to support an anointed godson, Adekunle Akinlade, who has moved to Allied People’s Movement (APM) in anger, pledging to work against his party at the gubernatorial election, but supporting Buhari at the presidential, recently urged politicians to shun hate speech and violent tendencies.
Apparently concerned by the rash of slanging matches going on, particularly between the two major political parties, the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan and other Foreign Missions in Nigeria recently urged politicians to refrain from hate speech and violence capable of truncating the elections in the country.
The advice was contained in a cross press statement signed by the European Union (Delegation to Nigeria), France, Germany, United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden.
“We urge all involved – political and non-political actors – to refrain from using hate speech and take a firm stance against violence. The 2015 Peace Accords played an important role in that regard and we welcome new efforts towards that end.
“We were gravely concerned over widespread incidents of intimidation, interference and vote-buying during the recent gubernatorial elections. We were also perturbed by irregularities and violence during party primaries, and noted with particular concern that several women candidates were disenfranchised,” the statement said.
In January 2018, Mansur Muhammad Dan-Ali, minister of Defence, said that the Federal Government was going to commence the monitoring of the social media to checkmate hate speeches emanating from notable Nigerians.
He announced that there was “the need by the relevant security agencies to, as a matter of urgency, tackle the propagation of hate speeches, especially through the social media particularly by some notable Nigerians.”
It would be recalled that the idea came to government when the likes of former president Olusegun Obasanjo wrote a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari early in the year, detailing his disappointment over the mal-administration of government and the need for Buhari to resign.
Since the Obasanjo letter, a former military president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida had also written on the same subject matter, and many other individuals and groups have spoken up and out against what they consider as mis-governance.
The more criticism against government mounts, the more uncomfortable government becomes, hence, the alleged move to silence critics, it appears.
A group, League of Nigerian Columnists (LNC), a few days ago, came down heavily on the Federal Government’s move in signing the hate speech bill, blaming government for the advent of hate speeches across the country.
The group, a professional body comprising all major columnists in Nigerian newspapers, set up to ensure good governance as well as hold government accountable, at a public lecture ‘Hate Speech’, noted that the current administration set the dangerous pace.
Tola Adeniyi, a former managing director of Daily Times, and chairman of LNC, said: “Hate speech originated from the current government, the unity government that we run at the centre. Signing the hate speech bill into law is geared towards gagging the press, those who will draw attention, those who would have spoken about the deficiency of this government, the failing of this government which is all open in the market. But they do not want people to speak against them, or shout about them. They feel they can say or talk about them, but we, Nigerians, will refuse that kind of nonsensical legislation.”
By the same token, Ray Ekpu, a renowned columnist and co-founder of Newswatch Magazine, said: “There are 26 countries out of 200 countries that have specific legislation on hate speech. That tells you that either those countries already have legislation that can take care of something that is close to hate speech or hate speech itself or they think that the society does not need any more of such legislation in an era where people are talking about free speech.
“They also might say that they do not want any more imposition particularly in countries like Africa where normal things are turning to abnormal things. In Africa, South Africa has legislation on hate speech; I do not know if there is any other African country but of course, we know the peculiarity of South Africa and even with that legislation, you have Xenophobia there. What is the government doing about it?”
Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the APC, on Wednesday, employed a heavy dosage of what looked like hate speech, when he verbally taunted former president Obasanjo, Uche Secondus, national chairman of the PDP and Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the PDP.
Oshiomhole said: “Nobody has ever said Buhari is a thief. But who said the other person is a thief? It was his boss (Obasanjo). When you are working with me and I say you are a thief, God will punish me if I support you. And when you are confused because your supply line has been chopped off and then you enter into a new deal, you now turned around to support the same person.
“That God that you called with your name to punish you if you support the person is about to go to work. And He will go to work in February and He will punish him thoroughly and the person he is supporting, in favour of Nigerians”.
Jude Okouwa, a lecturer with a state university, said: “The Federal Government cannot be serious about criminalising hate speech. What is hate speech by the way, and who started it all? When they came in, hatred was sown into the polity. President Buhari’s speeches are full of hatred; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s speeches rankle. If you listen to Fashola, it is hatred all the way.”
“Today, Nigeria is torn apart by the words they utter. They were voted into power based on the claim they made that they knew how to move the country forward; but more than three years now, they are full of excuses. They are not forward-looking; they keep looking down and looking back, dragging the country down with their negative aura,” Okouwa further observed.
