Senator Abdullahi Sahabi, the sponsor of the controversial Hate speech bill which seeks to propose the death penalty to offenders has disclosed that the death penalty aspect of the bill will be amended.
Sahabi, who is the Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, was responsible for proposing the death penalty for an offender who is found guilty of hate speech that lead to the death of another person.
Accordingly, the death penalty aspect of the bill has attracted wide condemnation and scrutiny from members of public in the last three weeks.
However, Senator Sahabi who is the sponsor of the bill disclosed on Sunday that the legislatures will work out modalities on how to expunge the death penalty aspect of the bill to give it a human face since law shall always be tailored towards people’s interests.
He revealed that when the legislatures converge, the bill will be further fine-tuned to ensure that the clause seeking to propose the death penalty is reviewed to reflect the interest of Nigerians.
Speaking further, Sahabi added that the Senate was designed to welcome both public and private bill and therefore the lawmakers always welcome critics and supporters from members of public because only through such process that the laws can be fine-tune, explaining this will go a long way in providing Nigerians with the long-awaited bill on hate speech they have been clamoring for.
Hate speech has led to the death of many Nigerians and is a major factor behind depression and suicide in Nigeria, the Senator said.
We have followed with keen interest debates for and against the hate speech bill and have appreciate why some group kicked against it, the Senator added.
He said he is happy with the fact that all of Nigerians agreed we have a problem of hate speech which require an urgent attention so that it did not throw this country into chaos, therefore, the lawmakers cannot sit down and watch hate speech throw this country into violence and killing.
The lawmaker explained that the Independent National Commission for the Prohibition of Hate Speech to be established will guard against every act of discrimination against Nigerians by way of victimization.
The Commission, according to Sahabi, will have an executive chairperson, a secretary and twelve commissioners appointed through painstaking process involving the National Council of State, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the National Assembly.
