Former minister of aviation, Femi Fani Kayode, has reacted to plans by the Senate to amend the proposed death penalty clause in the hate speech bill.
DAILY POST reports that Sponsor of ‘hate speech bill and Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, on Sunday said the Senate may amend the proposed death penalty clause in the bill.
Abdullahi made this known in a statement he signed on Sunday in Abuja.
The lawmaker assured that the death penalty proposed in the bill would be amended by the Senate “when it is subjected to legislative input at the National Assembly.”
Abdullahi, who represents Niger North Senatorial District, said that the bill would undergo some fine-tuning to ensure that the clauses contained in its provisions to be passed into law reflected Nigerians’ views.
He added that the Senate welcomed contributions and inputs by critics and supporters of the bill, as these would go a long way towards giving Nigerians the much-awaited law that would address the disturbing trend of hate speech
But, Fani-Kayode reacting said amendment of the bill to remove the death penalty clause is not enough.
He asked that the senate totally scrap the hate speech and social media bill and apologize to Nigerians.
The former minister on his Twitter page wrote; “Removing the death penalty for so-called “hate speech” is not enough.
” You must scrap the entire Bill, send it back to Singapore where it came from, get on your knees and ask God.
“Also ask the people for forgiveness for having the temerity to try to deprive them of their right to speak freely. “
