July 07, (THEWILL) – A House of Representatives Member for Ahiazu/Ezinihitte Mbaise Federal Constituency of Imo State, Hon. Emeka Chinedu, on Wednesday clarified that his Bill which passed first reading at plenary on Tuesday was twisted and misinterpreted, saying it was not seeking to jail protesters.
Chinedu, in a statement on Wednesday, said he had been inundated with calls and messages over a misconception that went viral insisting that it was a clear case of misunderstanding, misconception and misrepresentation of the facts.
He said, “The caption of the Bill that went viral was never my intent or opinion, neither was it an embodiment of the Bill I sponsored that passed the first reading on the floor of the National Assembly on Tuesday, July 6, 2021, hence, a clear case of misunderstanding, misconception and misrepresentation of the facts.”
The lawmaker stressed that as a representative of the people, whose political ideology is rooted in democratic tenets, he can never be a party to a system that seeks to stifle or cripple dissenting voices whose right to Freedom of Assembly, Expression and Protest was guaranteed by the combined effort of Sections 39 and 40 of 1999 Constitution as amended, as well as Article 11 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Right to Free Assembly.
Chinedu noted that while he urged Nigerians to imbibe the culture of reading beyond newspaper captions in order to comprehend the body of a message, it was however imperative to put the record straight, in order to douse tension and allay the concerns of his teeming adherents.
“The Criminal Code Amendment Bill, 2021, did not talk about criminalising protest or protesters in Nigeria, rather, it is a Bill that proactively seeks to preserve life and protect the killing of the innocent through mob action, known as ‘jungle justice’ in our local parlance,” he added.
The lawmaker explained that his argument, as captured in the coming lead debate, was that mob actions were usually triggered spontaneously by accusations of a bystander, then joined by another, till it turns to a crowd of vengeful carnage and destruction on its path.
Chinedu said the danger with mob actions was that participants typically believe they were punishing an accused for violation of the law, when in reality they were giving jungle justice to the accused who may be totally innocent, and had not been given an opportunity to be fairly heard.
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