BEVERLY HILLS, December 08, (THEWILL) – Some publishers of online media along with a coalition of civil society groups in Nigeria on Tuesday stormed the National Assembly premises in a peaceful protest that was organized to express their grievances over the frivolous Petitions and Other Related Matters Bill, seen as a means of gagging social media users.
Led by Aisha Yusuf, Anthony Ehilebo, Ariyo Atoye, Mukhtar Daniyan, and Ahmad Isa, the protesters expressed disappointment that the bill, which they claimed was designed to censor social media practitioners, passed second reading in the Upper Chamber last week.
They specifically claimed that Section 4 of the bill prescribed a two year jail term or a fine of N2m as punishment for anyone who posts abusive statement known to be false, in any social media platform.
Bearing placards inscribed with various messages highlighting their position, the protesters argued that the offensive section of the bill was against Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Section 39 (1) of the 1999 constitution.
Addressing the civil societies and social media activists, Senators Shehu Sani and Enyinnaya Abaribe assured them that the senate will not introduce any law that will gag Nigerians from freely expressing themselves.
Senator Abaribe later laid the protesters’ letter on the floor of the red chamber with the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, directing the Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to investigate claims and grievances contained in it.
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