I was awashed with several calls in the past few days by various learned gentle men of the honourable bar in respect of a purported bill by the 8th Nigerian Senate at sanctioning or regulating the criticisms against Public officers by Nigerians.The proposed law as I was informed sets out heavy sanctions for people who “falsely” criticise public officials or institutions.
The bill, which is also reported to have been sponsored by Bala Ibn Na’allah, a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress fromKebbi State,has been widely criticised,and is seen as not only a significant clampdown on freedom of speech, but a deliberate targeting of critics of federal lawmakers and the National Assembly.The bill states that, “Notwithstanding anything contained in any law, it shall be unlawful to submit any petition, statement intended to report the conduct of any person for the purpose of an investigation, inquiry and or inquest without a duly sworn affidavit in the High Court of a state or the Federal High Court confirming the content to be true and correct and in accordance with the Oaths Act.
“Any petition and or complains not accompanied by a sworn affidavit shall be incompetent and shall not be used by any government institution, agency or bodies established by any law for the time being enforced in Nigeria.
Any person who unlawfully uses, publishes or cause to be published, any petition, complaint not supported by a duly sworn affidavit, shall be deemed to have committed an offence and upon conviction, shall be liable to an imprisonment for six months without an option of fine.”
It continues: “Any person who acts, uses, or cause to be used any petition or complaints not accompanied by duly sworn affidavit shall be deemed to have committed an offence and upon conviction, shall be liable to an imprisonment for a term of two years or a fine of N200,000.00 or both.”
It also states that, “Where any person in order to circumvent this law makes any allegation and or publish any statement, petition in any paper, radio, or any medium of whatever description, with malicious intent to discredit or set the public against any person or group of persons, institutions of government, he shall be guilty of an offence and upon conviction, shall be liable to an imprisonment term of two years or a fine of N4,000,000.00.”
The social media bill further provides, “Where any person through text message, tweets, WhatsApp or through any social media posts any abusive statement knowing same to be false with intent to set the public against any person and group of persons, an institution of government or such other bodies established by law shall be guilty of an offence and upon conviction, shall be liable to an imprisonment for two years or a fine of N2,000,000.00 or both fine and imprisonment.”
However Nigerians have clamped against the supposed bill which have suspiciously received a rather speedy or unusually rapid attention at the senate, with two readings made within two weeks of its introduction.
The Illegality of the Purported Bill:An Attempt to Criminalize The Right to Freedom of Expression.
Well, having watched the actions of the Nigerian Senate ,I was rather amused at the desperate attempts by the nation's topmost lawmaking arm to grossly contravene the Nigerian Constitution by criminalising the divinely ordained right of the Nigerian citizenry.Without the task of repetition ,Section 39 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides for the Right to freedom of expression ,which include the right of a citizen to hold his or her own personal opinions,which is ordinarily availed to every citizen of Nigeria in a democratic system, not just in Nigeria but in various countries of the world.Nigeria can therefore not be an exception .Need I mention that similar provisions are provided in Article 9 of the African Banjul Charter to which Nigeria is signatory to and Article 19 of the UN Charter respectively.
It is also pertinent to remind the 8th Nigerian Senate that, as far back as 1983, the right of the Nigerian people to criticise public officers without any sanctions whatever was upheld by the Court of Appeal which annulled the offence of sedition in the case of Arthur Nwankwo v. The State (1985) 6 NCLR 228. In that case, Olatawura JCA (as he then was) of blessed memory had this to say:
“Those who occupy sensitive posts must be prepared to face public criticisms in respect of their office so as to ensure that they are accountable to the electorate. They should not be made to feel they live in an Ivory Tower and therefore belong to a different class. They must develop thick skin and where possible plug their ears with cotton wool if they feel too sensitive or irascible. They are within their constitutional rights to sue for defamation but they should not use the machinery of government to invoke criminal proceedings to gag their opponents as the freedom of speech guaranteed by our constitution will be meaningless.”,
The actions of the Nigerian Senate is thus grossly irresponsible and a desperate attempt to curb and criminalize the voices of the poor Nigerian masses and yes, the purported bill if passed into law will be challenged by myself and other members of my legal team in the Federal High Court Abuja, as same grossly contravenes Section 1(3) of the Nigerian Constitution as it is inconsistent and void abinito.
Futher more the offence of criminal libel and sedition (Criminal libel means the offence of making a malicious defamatory statement in a permanent form,Sedition means conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch) provided in the Criminal Code as been long held to be inconsistent with the constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is pertinent to also note that the land mark decision in Auther Nwankwo v The State supra as delivered by Olatawura JCA is binding on all authorities and persons in Nigeria,speaking for the Court of Appeal,
Olatawura JCA held inter alia:
“We are no longer the illiterates or the mob society our colonial masters had mind when the law was promulgated…To retain S. 51 of the Criminal Code, in its present form, that is even if not inconsistent with the freedom of expression guaranteed by our Constitution will be a deadly weapon to be used at will by a corrupt government or a tyrant…Let us not diminish from the freedom gained from our colonial masters by resorting to laws enacted by them to suit their purpose.”
It is therefore submitted that the resort to criminal libel and sedition by public officers to settle scores with critics and or political opponents is illegal in every sense. Public officers who feel offended by any defamatory publication have been rightly advised by the Court of Appeal to defend their reputation and bruised ego by suing for libel in a civil court.
Nigerians like other citizens of the world have a fundermental ,divine right to hold their leaders accountable ,such rights are first endorsed by God and can not be surreptiously curtained by the scandal ridden bandwagon of the 8th Nigerian Senate.
Umoru Theophilus Iko-Ojo is a legal Practitioner based in Lagos State Nigeria.
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