The federal government says hate
speech is already covered in the cybercrime act of 2015.
Gbemisola Saraki, minister of
state for transportation, said this at the end of Wednesday’s federal executive
council (FEC) meeting.
There has been an outrage across
the nation since the senate reintroduced the “National Commission for the
Prohibition of Hate Speeches Bill 2019”, now known as “hate speech bill”, on
Tuesday.
The bill prescribes death by
hanging for any person found guilty of any form of hate speech that results in
the death of an individual.
While responding to a question on
the reintroduction of the bill, Saraki
said the death sentence being proposed is already covered in the cybercrime
act.
“Let me just address the issue on
hate crime and the bill before the national assembly. Like you rightly said
it’s a bill, it’s not yet law,” she said.
“So the sponsor of the bill might
have might have put the death penalty there. I think we are jumping the gun a
bit, like you said he is proposing the bill is not yet an act.
“Be that as it may, I think the
cybercrime act, there is a law already in Nigeria, the cybercrime act that has
the hate speech aspect in it. The reason I am not privileged to know the
sponsor of the particular bill that you mentioned but there is a law.
“I stand to be corrected, I think
it was passed 2014/2015. I am not particularly sure but there is a law that
takes care.
“Because cybercrime now a major
issue and as you know internationally, the world over everybody is concerned
about it being the new frontier to fight
crime. So hate speech is within that cybercrime aspect.”
The cybercrime act 2015
prescribes death penalty for an offence committed against a system or network
that has been designated critical or results in the death of an individual.
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