Oyo, 04 December, 2019 / 12:42 am (ACI Africa).
A Nigerian Bishop has termed as “an attack on Nigerians” the proposed bill in his country’s National Assembly that seeks to apply capital punishment for those found guilty of hate speech.
“The proposed hate speech bill waiting to be passed at the National House of Assembly, recommending death by hanging for anyone found guilty of hate speech, is an attack on Nigerians,” Bishop Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo of Nigeria’s Oyo diocese has said in a statement published by the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria Tuesday, December 2.
“Nigeria should not be proposing capital punishment at this period when other civilized countries are abandoning it because life is inviolable,” Bishop Badejo has noted in his statement and explained, “Capital punishment really just makes society more violent and does not really work as a deterrent.”
The bill proposes that any 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.
It further stipulates that if such person intends thereby to stir up ethnic hatred, or having regard to all the circumstances, ethnic hatred is likely to be stirred up against any person or persons from such an ethnic group in Nigeria.
