Dozens of protesters on Wednesday
marched to the National Assembly gate to ask the Senate to drop the bill to
regulate the social media in Nigeria.
The two senators who addressed
the protesters pledged that despite the bill being sponsored by their
colleague, the Senate would do the bidding of Nigerians.
The protest started around 9:25
a.m. Wednesday.
Two groups, Take It Back Movement
and Concerned Nigerians, championed the protest.
Asides the primary demand of the
Senate stepping down the social media and the hate speech bills, the protesters
also asked the federal government to obey court orders by releasing Omoyele
Sowore and other journalists who are held for critiquing state authorities.
They hoised placards which among
other inscriptions read: “If you can’t stand the smoke. Get out of the
kitchen”, “Only a repressive regime muscles the media”,
“#SayNoToSocialMediaBill, we are not in tyranny century”, “If we can’t say what
we think, in a democratic society, then it is not democracy”, “Do not gag me”,
“Free Sowore”.
The protest began at the left
flank of the National Assembly entrance as the protesters with their placards
sang songs of solidarity.
They called out the names of each
of the 109 senators, chorusing “Shut it down” — referring to the two bills, the
social media bill and the hate speech bill.
While addressing journalists,
Deji Adeyanju, one of the conveners of the protest, said the action would,
henceforth, be frequent.
He said apart from the protests,
there would be online actions which would involve sending text messages,
calling and sending mails to every senator.
He added that this would be
followed by “individual name shaming and picketing. We will assign tasks to
different members (of our group) to go to their (the senators) homes. Let their
children see what their parents are doing.”
He faulted the decision to adopt
Singapore’s version of the same bill. He said the Asian country is not a
democratic state.
“No going back. Nigerian is in
need of voices of reason, voices of courage, voices of integrity. Not the
integrity of someone we all know. These two bills are anti-people bill. They
are not necessary. The reason for this is because the Cybercrime Law already
has a provision for all of these.”
On his part, another leader of
the protest, Henry Shield, also chided the legislators for not adopting
“progressive bills” like the healthcare bill of the United States and other
bills of note that would address the challenges facing Nigerians.
“We insist that the monstrous
social media bill and its evil hate speech counterpart have no place in any
democratic society, let alone a fledgling democracy like ours. We believe that
the bills are satanic and must be totally withdrawn by the ninth Senate with
immediate effect.
“As constituents and citizens
alike, we believe that the proposed bills suggest that you lawmakers are
anti-people and unwilling to either understand the sufferings of Nigerians or
even take any meaningful step to mitigate them.
“We, therefore, hope that you
will listen to the unanimous voice of Nigerians that these bills have no place
in our democracy and must be forever banished to the trash can.”
Senate to do Nigerians’ bidding –
Lawmakers
Uba Sani (APC, Kaduna Central)
and Yakubu Oseni (APC, Kogi Central) spoke on behalf of the Senate.
The former reassured Nigerians
that the leadership of the National Assembly is open to dialogue. He called on
Nigerians to attend the public hearing on the bills, in order to air their
views on them. The date of the public hearing has not been fixed.
“The law is not about the 109
senators. It is about Nigerians. Democracy is about free speech, it is about
rule of law. That is why their voices are extremely important. That is why we
believe that your agitation is valid and also in the best interest of our own
county. We are going to certainly work with you on the day of the public
hearing.
“I have no doubt in my mind, if
Nigerians don’t want these bills, even though they are being sponsored by our
colleagues, certainly it won’t escape the public hearing. I can assure you we
are going to do whatever is in the best interest of our own country. Whatever
Nigerians want is what the 9th Senate would do.
“We are aware of section 24 of
the Cybercrime Act and some of us are on the same page with these agitations.
We are not guided by any political affiliation. We are guided by the law and
concerned about the progress of our own country,” Mr Sani assured.
9th Senate not appendage of
Executive
Yakubu Oseni, the Senate Chairman
on Cybercrime, also affirmed that no bill would be passed without a public
hearing, saying laws made by the legislature are for Nigerians and not the
Senate.
He debunked the growing concerns
among Nigerians that the 9th Senate is an appendage of the Executive.
The concern was fuelled last week
when the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, said whatever President Muhammadu
Buhari tables before the legislators is believed to be in the interest of the
country and would be passed.
“It is not true. If the Senate
President said something, we should always check what he said before he said
that. I can quote him verbatim.
“He said he knows that ‘Mr
president meant well for Nigerians and that whatever he brings and we know that
would better the lots of Nigerians, we will not hesitate to pass it through.’
We’re all here to protect the interests of Nigerians.”
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