The senate has spoken of its resolve to pass anti-hate speech bill and anti-jungle justice bill in no time on resumption in September.
The resolution was contained in a statement Senate President Bukola Saraki’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu released on Tuesday wherein the senate lamented the rising tensions in the polity, saying the passage of the bills will mitigate against hate speech and jungle justice.
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The statement reads in part, “At this point in time, when people are heating up the political and social space with their utterances, the Hate Speech Bill will help to mitigate against verbal attacks or expressions against individuals or groups on the basis of ethnicity, religion, and even gender.
“This will help to send a clear message with accompanying punitive measures to those negative elements in our society that are fond of distasteful comments that hurt, offend and provoke retaliation,”
It read further, “There have been many cases of extrajudicial executions across the nation. We all remember the “Aluu Four” incident, and several other notorious cases of phone and food thieves being set ablaze. We cannot have a situation where people feel that they can take the law into their hands. Therefore, we must put in place careful stopgaps and penal measures to protect the sanctity of our communities.”
