In the quest to curb hate speech, the Senate has proposed a bill seeking the death penalty for violators of hate speech who cause the death of another citizen by their speech.
The bill which was sponsored by Aliyu Abdullahi, the Deputy Chief Whip has also proposed that a separate agency be established to handle matters relating to Hate Speech.
The bill which has passed its first reading furthermore proposes that ;
A 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 behaviour, commits an offence, 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 person from such an ethnic group in Nigeria.
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“A person subjects another to harassment on the basis of ethnicity for the purposes of this section where, on ethnic grounds, he unjustifiably engages in a conduct which has the purpose or effect of (a) violating that other person’s dignity or (b) creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for the person subjected to the harassment.”
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