Let’s Talk About Hate Speech

Nigeria’s Federal Government has chosen to declare a war on hate speech. Some of its most senior officers appear uncertain about the applicable laws. Keen not to be left behind, the ruling party seems willing to make a party political issue out of the matter. The desire of the government is not misplaced but any effort to gain party political mileage out of hate speech risks destroying a currency that should be jealously guarded.

Addressing the National Economic Council in Abuja on August 17, 2017, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo announced that the government had “drawn a line against hate speech, it will not be tolerated, it will be taken as an act of terrorism and all of the consequences will follow it.” He explained that “hate speech is a specie of terrorism. Terrorism as it is defined popularly is the unlawful use of violence or intimidation against individuals or groups especially for political ends.”

Five days earlier, on August 11, Interior Minister Abdulrahman Dambazau, a retired General, informed the media at the end of a meeting of the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), that “a draft bill to the Ministry of Justice on hate speech which will go as an executive bill after passing through the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation to the National Assembly.” Right on cue, Senate President, Bukola Saraki, announced on August 15 that the National Assembly will consider such a bill of a fast track.

Vice-President Osinbajo clearly knows. He is a law professor, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and one of Nigeria’s brightest lawyers and it shows. Nigeria’s Terrorism (Prevention) Act of 2011, amended in 2013, prohibits among many things, acts that “seriously intimidate a population.” These include acts that “incite, promise or induce any other person by any means whatsoever to commit any act of terrorism.”

The Electoral Act prohibits “abusive language directly or indirectly likely to injure religious, ethnic, tribal or sectional feelings” as well as the use of “abusive, intemperate or slanderous or base language or insinuations or innuendoes designed or likely to provoke violent reaction or emotions.” Incitement to hate is a crime under both the Criminal and Penal Codes.

The rationale for this in law is obvious: hate speech is not protected speech. Four questions, however, call for attention. First, what is hate speech? The answer to this is not easy. In September 2013, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) issued General Comment No. 35 on ‘Racist Hate Speech” in which it clarified that “hate speech can take many forms and is not confined to explicitly racial remarks.” The Committee pointed out that “speech attacking particular racial or ethnic groups may employ indirect language in order to disguise its targets and objectives.” The jurisprudence has somewhat tracked the famous formulation of U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Potter Stewart, from 1964 in relation to obscenity: “I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it.”

Second, how often does hate speech occur in Nigeria and how serious is it? Digital expression has enhanced both the immediacy of hate speech and the capacity to monitor it. The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) in Kano, which tracks hate speech in Nigeria, has recently published an analysis of its monitoring undertaken over six months covering June-December 2016. Over this period, it recorded 6,258 incidents, a monthly average of 1,043 incidents. Hate speech directed at religion accounted for 2,603 or 41.59 per cent while those directed against ethnicity or tribe accounted for another 39.13 per cent. In other words, between them, religion and ethnicity were the focus of 80.72 per cent of the incidents of recorded hate speech. With considerable understatement, CITAD concludes that “this means that Nigerians are becoming (more) ethnically and religiously insensitive, even intolerant.”

Fourth, how can we deal with hate speech? Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, claims that “all these fake news/hate speech is just to distort the hard work of the government,” and asks Nigeria’s media to “self-regulate or self-destruct.” The figures don’t support him and his effort to appropriate concern about hate speech for partisan political purposes is dreadful and desperate. His lines feed a strong perception that an increasingly intolerant ruling party has cottoned onto hate speech not out of any altruistic reasons but to undercut free expression. That is not allowable.

It is necessary to get the diagnosis right. In his Reflections on the Nigerian Civil War: Facing the Future, published in 1969, Ralph Uwechue laments that “the principal cause of our current tragedy is bitterness born of misunderstanding.” In October 1972, then Head of State, General Gowon, condemned political activity “which tend to cause sectional hatred”. Far from progress, the country has retrogressed deeply in the intervening 45 years. The pathology of hate in Nigeria has deep roots and considerable resilience. We don’t have enough bullets to shoot it into extinction.

Effective and even-handed law enforcement can help. Government communication needs to be more honest and transparent. To achieve that, it will need to be conducted more in verbs and less in adjectives.

Kano LG Polls: CSOs Fault Process, Say Multiple, Underage Voting Rampant

By Nasir Ibrahim

Two election monitors in Saturday’s local government polls in Kano, Centre for Information Technology And Development (CITAD) and Action Aid International Nigeria, have faulted the entire process.

They said the process was flawed since it permitted open, multiple, and underage voting.

A statement issued by media coordinator, Election Monitoring Team of CITAD, Hamza Idris, also noted that election officials and materials were in several instances not delivered to polling units on time, ”an action that discouraged voters and led to a boycott of polling units.”

“Underage voting has been witnessed in some places. Insufficient provision of ballot papers in many polling units. At a particular polling unit, there were over 600 registered voters but only 200 ballot papers were issued to it even though there was a considerable turnout of voters in some polling units.

“In most of the local governments within and outside Kano metropolis, voting began between 3:30 p.m. and 4:15 p.m.,” the statement said.

The statement added that a number of newly registered voters could not find their names on the voters register presented by KANSIEC as it is yet to be updated, and voting did not take place in some polling units as the electorate waited endlessly.

They cited a particular case in Karaye local government where this occurred.

The statement said conducting free, credible and fair elections not only helps democracy but consolidates it, especially at local government levels.

“People living with disability were discouraged from voting in certain polling units having to join long queues.

“Provisions should be made to allow people with special needs to easily vote in elections, such as dedicating a particular section or queue for them, providing a shade under which albinos can wait,” the statement observed.

It also recommended adequate and concrete plans to ensure prompt delivery of election materials to all polling units.

“Voters register should be continuously updated to allow emerging voters find their names and cast their votes. Underage voting should not be condoned by election officials and security agents,” the groups advised.

Don’t Blame us, INEC Says on Kano’s Underage Voters

The Independent National Electoral Commission has sought to allay public worries over the credibility of Nigeria’s future elections after pictures of underage voters emerged from last Saturday’s local polls in Kano State.

Observers, including the Centre for Information Technology And Development, CITAD, and Action Aid International Nigeria, said they witnessed voting by underage citizens during the elections.

Then, still and motion pictures of underage citizens taking part in the electoral process allegedly during the polls in Kano have been circulating on the social media since Saturday, fueling wild concerns such irregularities could have negative implications for the general elections, about one year away.

However, in a statement by a spokesperson, Oluwole Uzzi, on Tuesday, INEC said the disturbing pictures did not relate to any election it conducted or had responsibility for, thereby allaying fears over its capacity for credible elections.

INEC is statutorily empowered to conduct all Nigeria’s elections, except the ones to the local government councils conducted by the electoral commissions in each state.

Acknowledging the pictures of the underage voters, the commission stated that “as far as we can ascertain, they (the pictures) relate to a local government election conducted at the weekend (in Kano)”.

“While the Commission remains resolute in our commitment to sanitise the nation’s electoral process and deliver free, fair and credible elections, we cannot be held directly or vicariously liable for a process outside our legal purview,” INEC said.

“Our part, INEC assures the public that we are doing all we can to ensure a credible election.”

However, INEC’s assurance may be doubted if it becomes established that the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission, KANSIEC, used the national commission’s voters’ register and the pictured underage voters were accredited using that.

While Nigeria’s recent elections have earned positive reviews from local and international observers, the local ones organised by the electoral commission in various states remain subject of worries and constitute a downside to the country’s 19-year old democracy.

It is not just that the state electoral commissions are barely independent, it has also been observed that the opposition parties and their candidates for the local council elections have limited chance at an open and fair process.

For instance, in the recent elections in Kano, Kwara, Osun and Benue States the ruling All Progressives Congress, or the Peoples Democratic Party in the case of Ekiti State and Akwa Ibom State, won all the contested seats amid serious allegations of brazen irregularities.

This has prompted the National Assembly to amend the country’s law so that local elections would also be conducted by INEC, thus scrapping state electoral commissions. That amendment is, however, sill in the process of becoming law.

INEC also said it is aware of the challenges people face in trying to get registered at some centres.

To address this problem, the commission said it had taken two steps, including the deployment of more direct data capturing machines for registration and increasing the number of the registration centres to 1,446 nationwide.

“We believe that with the measures taken so far the queues and other identified challenges will soon abate,” the commission said.

Centre Seeks Law to Prevent Online Harassment of Women

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), has called on the Federal Government to introduce internet safety and security in the nation’s computer studies curriculum.

Hajiya Maryam Ado-Haruna, the CITAD Programme Assistant, Gender and Internet Advocacy, made the call on Thursday while briefing newsmen in Kano on the outcome of its research on Gender-Based Violence Online. She also called for the introduction of privacy and personal data protection law in the country. The official further canvassed for effective implementation of the “Do Not Disturb” policy of the Nigerian Communication Commission which requires service providers to stop sending unsolicited messages by third parties. On the research, she said: “Gender Based Violence Online (GBVO) is an act of cyber crime carried out against a woman because she is a woman; the crime is primarily carried out to injure her feelings, damage her reputation or tarnish her image.” According to her, from the data generated, it was clear that gender based violence online is one of the cross-cutting issues affecting women’s full use of the internet. “The results of the studies have shown that women in northern Nigeria are being subjected to various forms of online violence such as harassment, intimidation and threat which tends to discourage them from using internet. “In our campaign over the radio and other medium of mass communication, we advised women about decency and moral conduct online in order not to directly invite GBVO themselves.” Ado-Haruna urged women to understand and mitigate the risks they might face in the course of accessing the internet. She said women must know and understand the privacy and personal applications to secure their online addresses and protect themselves from online harassment.

NGO Wants Govt. to Enlighten Politicians on Dangers of Hate Speech

A Kano-based Non Governmental Organization, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has called on government to sensitise politicians on the dangers associated with hate speeches. The CITAD Senior Programme Officer, Mr Isah Garba gave the advice while briefing newsmen in Kano on Wednesday. He said the call was necessary in order to promote peaceful coexistence in the country as the politicians prepare for the upcoming general elections in 2019.

“As preparation for 2019 general elections is around the corner, government should make it duty to caution and sensitise politicians on dangers of hate speeches. “This should be done either during campaigns or in any other intra or inter party political statements,” Garba said. He also advised the Federal Government to establish a mechanism of sensitising the public on effects of hate speech, its dangers to the peaceful coexistence in the country.

“The government should also come up with effective ways of neutralising the impacts of hate speech among both its audience and victims. “I want to call on editors of Newspapers and other media practitioners to always maintain the professional ethics and ensure that hate speakers are not promoted in the media,”Garba said. He called on members of the public to imbibe the spirit of tolerance and ensure whatever message they received on any platform of the social media, was verified to ensure its authenticity.

“In the month of August our monitoring team monitored and reported a total of 816 hate speeches out of which 324 are on ethnic, 166 on religion and 67 on Biafra issues. Others he said, are election issues eight. Access to resources, five while farmers/herders had three.

We Have Enough Laws For Hate Speech, Stakeholders Tell FG

…identify root causes of hate speech

By Emmanuel Elebeke.

ABUJA- Federal government has been advised to reconsider its stands to pass a new law for hate speech in the country. This was the view of some participants at the inaugural Peace and Security Network Quarterly confab series held in Abuja on Monday. They argued that the country has enough laws to take care of any form of hate speech that may arise before, during and after the 2019 general elections as contained in the constitution, broadcasting code, Advertising Practitioners of Nigeria Act and the Press Council Code of ethics. They however, warned federal government against pushing for laws that would gag the press and free speech under the guise of 2019 general elections, insisting that the move to pass the new hate speech bill by through the National Assembly was unnecessary. Speaking at the event, the President, Guild of Corporate Online Publishers, Mr. Dotun Oladipo, who accused the government of having a plan to gaga the press, warned government to stop playing around by bringing in new law but should apply the existing laws to check the menace of hate speech. ‘‘Let us not play around because election is coming. We have laws already that can take care of hate speech. Bringing in new laws will not be necessary. This government is out to gag the media. It is difficult to draw the line between hate speech and free speech.’’ On how to address the trend, Oladipo called on the national Orientation Agency (NOA) and the Federal Ministry of Information to contend with the promoters of hate speech on the social media rather than encourage formulation of new laws. He also accused the police of not doing its jobs of tracing drivers of hate speech on social through their social media accounts but rather resort to arresting people who will give them money. He further accused some media practitioners of not leveraging the advantage of social media in seeking for credible stories instead promote unverifiable stories. The director of Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Yunus Zakari Yahu, identified lack of transparency in governance; perception of marginalization; poverty and inability of government to address previous conflicts and bring them to closure as some of the root causes of hate speech. He noted that hate speech is not something that happened out of context, but has to be triggered by an action. ‘‘Over the last couple of months, we have seen increase in the volume of hate speech, particularly in the social media and electronic media as well. We think that the prevalence of hate speech can lead to violence as it has led to violence in other countries. As it has capacity to lead to violence. ‘‘If people act to prevent it, it can be prevented. The reason we are here is to get all stakeholders to understand the dangers hate speech portends for the country, especially as we move closer to the 2019 elections so that those who can work in peace can do so to reduce the volume of hate speech. We are also here to help sensitise the public on the danger of hate speech.’’ On what CITAD is doing to check hate speech, he said: ‘‘We have a couple of initiatives to inform citizens to demand accountability from government. Government on its side should make information free to the people, enforcement of FOI Act; fight poverty, government has to be impartial in addressing issues in the country. ‘‘We also recognise that there are existing media regulations which can be used to address hate speech, the Advertisers Practitioners Act, National Broadcasting code, the Press Council code of ethics. With, these, regulators should be able to sanction all media houses that violate the codes.’’ Earlier in his address, the PSN Manager, Adeolu Adewumi said the the forum was organised to for stakeholders to brainstorm on the correlation between free speech and hate speech and proffer solution to hate speech. ‘‘The essence of having these confab series is to ensure that we engage with hate speech and its implications, hate speech and its implications for elections and electoral security and hate speech and religious tolerance, so that whatever the government and international community with say will be a common narrative towards addressing hate speech. ‘‘We have come to understand that there is a tin line between hate speech and free speech, where hate speech ends, free speech begins vice versa. ‘‘We have to interrogate that properly. We begin to engage the collaboration of government with international partners to have a common narrative towards the 2019 elections. That is why we are starting very early, because we know the election is one year away and we believe that starting early and remaining proactive would add value to the electoral process, and ensuring that the right speeches are made by the political actors, individuals.’’ In his keynote speech entitled: Towards 2019 Elections: Hate Speech and |Implications for Ethnic Relations, the guest speaker and former United nations Under-Secretary for Political Affairs and former mediator in Rwanda and Myanmar crisis, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari said 2019 general elections are threatened because the media space had been hijacked by the drivers of hate speech, saying that concerted action must be taken by government and CSOs to adopt a national law which will check the excesses of hate speech. He charged the media to demonstrate absolute patriotism in the discharge of their duties, insisting that the run off to 2019 elections must be handled with extremee care. he also called for a review of media code of ethics to curtail the increase of hate speech on the media. ”We must not allow ethics and selfish interest to collide with the overall interest of Nigeria. What is more threatening is not the traditional media but the social media. There is need for the ministry of interior to step up sensitization on hate speech. CSOs must also double their efforts in advocacy to the grass roots.” On her side, the President, Nigeria Guild of Editors, Funke Egbemode said the media should not be blamed for the increase in hate speech but insisted that government must be prepared to do its bit by being fair to all and providing good governance. She also insisted that security agencies must be prepared to discharge their duties without bias to the citizens. ‘‘We need to do what must be done. You cannot blame everybody sitting next to us for what is happening in the other house. We need to do what needs to be done,’’ she said. On the role of INEC, the chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu said the business of INEC is to conduct elections and not to police cyber space. He also stated that INEC is not averse to use of social media to advance and reach out to young people but warned that a line should be drawn between hate speech and free speech, especially in the use of social media. ‘‘We are making use of social media to engage people on the ongoing registration exercise. Social media releasing result is the issue but releasing unofficial results. ‘‘The most important thing is that the government have to be dynamic in the use of social media to be able to guide against gate speech. For us in INEC, social media has helped us to draw people out for registration. The use of social media is quite positive in some ways but can be dangerous in other ways. ‘’There has to be a balance between hate speech and free speech. The recent judgements on hate speech in European should be a guide to us as to the limit free of every speech. We need to critically examine theses and come up with guidelines on how to deal with hate speech,’’ he added.

Northeast Students Debate Solutions to Insurgency

Yola – Students of tertiary institutions in Adamawa have commenced debate on finding lasting solutions to insurgency and challenges posed by displaced persons in the North East.

The debate involved students of Moddibo Adama University of Technology, Yola; Adamawa State University, Mubi; and Federal Polytechnic, Mubi.

The event is organised by Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) with the support of North East Regional Initiative (NERI), an NGO. Speaking at the maiden debate ceremony on Saturday in Yola, the Executive Director of CITAD, Mr Yunus Zakari, said the debate was organised to provide the youths a platform to discuss and proffer solutions to the insurgency crisis in the region.

“As students in the North East, you have experienced the problem, the hardship and dislocation caused by the insurgents.

“You are closer to the theatre of war, so we feel it’s important you to speak; let’s listen to your conversations.”

Zakari said similar discussion would be organised for students in Borno and Yobe states, adding that there is plan to extend it to students in neigbouring countries of Chad, Cameroon and Niger. He said the presentations and suggestions by the students would be made available to relevant stakeholders, including policy makers. The Adamawa Programme Manager of NERI, Mr Machill Maxwell, said NERI has been supporting various kinds of interventions in areas ravaged by insurgency and such positive mobilisation of the youths was one of such support. “This is one of our soft activities where people are encouraged to sit together and talk; come up with ideas and how solutions can be found for crisis that bedeviled the North East. “We have started now. We have a long way to go and we need your full commitment and presence to be able to get the result that we expect,” Maxwell said.

NAN also reports that topics discussed at the debate included: “What should youths do to contribute to ending insurgency in the North East; “How can young people be won away from getting recruited into insurgency; “The North East of the Future: A vision of the youth; “What should government do to make the counter insurgency more effective; and “How can students of tertiary institutions contribute to addressing the problem of Internally Displaced Persons”. (NAN)