A Kano based Non Governmental Organisation, Centre for Information Technology and Development, has advised Online Newspapers to regulate their sites against hate speeches.

Malam Hamza Ibrahim, the spokesperson of CITAD gave the advice on Wednesday at a media briefing organised by the association in Kano.

According to Ibrahim, the organisation has tracked 175 hate speeches on the social media for the month of June which were used at various platforms.

He said that about 28 per cent of the recorded speeches were religious based while 36 per cent were tribal based and 1.7 percent was politically motivated.

The CITAD spokesman however, appealed to traditional and religious leaders at different capacities to create avenues of sentisitising and cautioning people against hate speeches.

Ibrahim described hate speeches as “anti peace and anti development’ which people must avoid.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that CITAD in partnership with MacArthur Foundation had been monitoring and countering hate speeches on media platforms since 2014.

By Richard P. Ngbokai, Kano 

Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) in collaboration with MacArthur foundation has called on religious and traditional rulers in the country to intensify efforts in sensitizing people against hate speech and other hateful conduct against fellow Nigerians be it on the basis of religion or ethnicity.

The curbing-hate-speech project coordinator, CITAD, Malam Hamza Ibrahim made the call today in Kano during a press briefing about the outcome of their monthly survey of hateful conduct of Nigerians against one another on the cyberspace.

He said 175 hate speeches were recorded in May, with over twenty-eight (28%) percent of such speeches being faith based in which either Muslims were attacking Christians or Christians targeting Muslims.

He urged the leaders to preach tolerance to their followers saying “hate speech brews violence and enmity of varying degree among people.”

He emphasized the need for the country to take necessary action towards addressing the menace of hate speech.

“Hateful conduct of whatever kind is not helpful to a country with over 250 ethnic groups and different religious followers who ought to give peace and mutual respect a chance by respecting each others’ beliefs, values and views” Ibrahim said

While condemning the statement credited to the member representing Igabi west constituency in the Kaduna state House of Assmbly, Yusuf Zailani against Senator Shehu Sani, the centre urged politicians to exercise some sense of responsibility in their bids for public offices saying some of their utterances are capable of tearing the country apart.

Yusuf Zailani has reportedly placed a bounty of N5m for anybody that could bring him Senator Shehu Sani’s hair.

By Bashir Mohammed. Kano

Programme Officer, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Hajiya Harira Abdulrahaman Wakili, has described open National Assembly as a veritable key to entrenching probity, accountability and transparency in democratic governance.
Speaking at a one day sensitisation forum organised for students held at the CITAD conference hall in Kano yesterday, Wakili said the objective of organising the forum was to keep them posted on the responsibility bestowed on the shoulders of legislators having been part of an indispensable organ of government.
According to her, it was the constitutional right for every citizen to be kept informed on the workings of the legislature in a democratic dispensation pointing out that the issue of absolute accountability is paramount for genuine democratic system in the country.
She said, “You are constitutionally bound to enquire what is happening at the National Assembly. Ask your legislator to furnish you with credible information about his stewardship. What is important is accountability.
“In a situation where your legislator fails to live up to expectation, inform CITAD and we are definitely going to take measures to put him or her on the right track. We are in a democratic era and no one should be kept in the dark as students, this is your right and auspicious time to buckle-up,” she added.
While expressing CITAD’s unalloyed commitment to sustaining the sensitisation forum from time to time, the programme assistant maintained that without a vibrant and cohesive National Assembly, reaping the dividends of democracy would only remain a far cry.

– The Centre for Information Technology and Development has criticised Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state over statements credited to him

– The organisation condemned the governor’s statement against three senators representing the state at the National Assembly

– The members of the public have been urged not to react to El-Rufai’s statement.

The governor of Kaduna state, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has been condemned by the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) over his recent statements against three senators representing the state at the National Assembly.

It was reported that the governor had in audio/video clip that went viral on social media, made hateful comment and call to action statement against Senators Shehu Sani, Danjuma Laah and Suleiman Hunkuyi.

In a statement signed by Hamza Ibrahim, CITAD urged El-Rufai to as a matter of urgency withdraw his comments and caution his supporters against engaging in any form of violence, Daily Trust reports. NAIJ.com notes that the people were urged to disregard the governor’s statement while the Kaduna state chapter of the All Progressives Congress was called upon to condemn the comments The statement read: “We urge the public to remain calm and peaceful, and not react to the statements. The Senators, Shehu Sani, Danjuma Laah and Sulaiman Hunkuyi should also caution their followers not engage in counter hate speech or counter mobilization for violence.”

“Saddled with the responsibility of ensuring peace and security of lives and properties of people in Kaduna state and preventing actions and comments capable of jeopardising peace in the state that is facing security challenges, the governor should have avoided making these sorts of hateful comments. We deeply regret and condemn the inciting comments by Malam Nasir El-Rufai.”

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that Kaduna state governor, Nasir El-Rufai, on Friday, May 4, said that the three senators representing his state were ignorant of the real indices of development and progress in a democratic setting, describing the lawmakers as the enemies of democracy.

The governor said this at the Kaduna Township Stadium, weeks after the senators, Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central), Suleiman Hukunyi (Kaduna North), and Danjuma Leah (Kaduna South) blocked a $350 million loan request by the Kaduna government.

By Mustapha Usman.

Centre for Information Technology and Development, CITAD, has condemned the comments made by the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufa’i against the three senators representing the state in the National Assembly.

DAILY NIGERIAN reported that Mr El-Rufai had rained insults on the three senators: Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central), Sulieman Hukunyi (Kaduna North), and Danjuma Leah (Kaduna South) for blocked a $350m World Bank loan request by the state government.

Describing the comments as hate speech, CITAD urged the governor to publicly withdraw the statement.

“He should also advise the entire people of Kaduna State to disregard Gov. Malam Nasir El-rufai’s call against the three senators.

“We Call on All Progressives Congress (APC) Kaduna state chapter to condemn the comments as well and encourage the three Senators not to react.

CITAD, however, called on the Senators not to retaliate and to caution their followers not engage in counter hate speech or counter mobilization for violence.

“The social media players must understand that circulating the said audio/video clip is giving room to further unnecessary debate and hate speech, as such they should stop promoting the clip and instead advocate for peace,” the statement added.

By Yusha’u A. Ibrahim, Kano.

Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has condemned Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufa’i over his recent statements against three senators representing the state at the National Assembly.

It would be recalled that El-Rufa’i had in audio/video clip that went viral on social media, made hateful comment and call to action statement against Senator Shehu Sani, Senator Danjuma Laah and Senator Sulaiman Hunkuyi.

CITAD in a statement, signed by Hamza Ibrahim urged El-Rufa’i to as a matter of urgency withdraw his comments and caution his supporters against respecting his directive or engaging in any form of violence.

The centres also advised the people of Kaduna State to disregard the governor’s statement, calling on the Kaduna state chapter of the ruling APC to condemn the comments as well and encourage the three Senators not to react as well as cautioning followers of both factions against counter utterances.

“We urge the public to remain calm and peaceful, and not react to the statements. The Senators, Shehu Sani, Danjuma Laah and Sulaiman Hunkuyi should also caution their followers not engage in counter hate speech or counter mobilization for violence,” the statement appealed.

The statement lamented that as the chief security officer of Kaduna state, El-Rufa’i needs not to be reminded of the danger of his comments against the politicians.

“Saddled with the responsibility of ensuring peace and security of lives and properties of people in Kaduna state and preventing actions and comments capable of jeopardising peace in the state that is facing security challenges, the governor should have avoided making these sorts of hateful comments. We deeply regret and condemn the inciting comments by Malam Nasir El-Rufa’i.

To the social media players, the centre urged them to understand that circulating the said audio/video clip was giving room to further unnecessary debate and hate speech, as such they should stop promoting the clip and instead advocate for peace.

CTAD’s Senior Programme Officer, Isa Garba, in his remarks, said “the activities of the insurgents have caused many to loss their lives, properties worth millions of naira destroyed, yet youths are at the forefront of the terrorism which calls for concern.” Also speaking at the occasion, the CITAD Board of Trustee and Dean, Faculty of Arts and Education, Bauchi State University, Dr Asabe Sadi Mohammed, said: “The aims and objectives of the debate is to proffer solutions to the activities of the Boko Haram insurgents.
“Most of the members of the Boko Haram sect are youths. We want to use the youths especially in the tertiary institutions to spray the message that the activities of the insurgents are negative to our religions, economy and our society.” Blueprint reports that the topics for debate were “how can youths contribute to ending insurgency in the North-east and how students of tertiary institutions can contribute in addressing the problems of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
Our correspondent further reports that three participants each were selected from Federal University, Gashua, Federal Polytechnic, Damaturu, and the host Yobe State University. At the end of the debate, Federal Polytechnic, Damaturu, emerged winners in and went away with a Desktop Computer and four cell phones, while Federal University, Gashua, and Yobe State University came second and third, respectively

 By Muhammad Abubakar Damaturu.

The event was held at Yobe State University Hall in Damaturu and was attended by students from Federal University, Gashua; Federal Polytechnic, Damaturu, and Yobe State University, Damaturu.

NERI paid for the financial commitment of the debate.

The debate forms part of a series of events organised by NERI and CITAD, whose mandate includes enhancing and developing peace within the community.

The participants discussed ways to curb the menace of insurgency and presentations were followed by a debate which focused on the features, characteristics and determinants of youth involvement in terrorism, what youths should do to end insurgency in the Northeast,  how young people can be discouraged from being recruited into insurgency.

The participants were presented with various prizes of desktop computer sets, mobile handsets, plague and certificates.

Federal Polytechnic, Damaturu, emerged overall winner, followed by Federal University, Gashua, while Yobe State University got the third position.

By Hamisu Kabir Matazu, Damaturu.

An NGO, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), has organized inter-tertiary institutions debates on insurgency to encourage youths’ participation in counter-terrorism in Yobe, Borno, Adamawa and the rest of the Northeast.

Speaking after the debate, the senior programme officer of CITAD, Isa Garba, said it would generate ideas on how the scourge of terrorism would be stemmed using the youths who were principal actors and main sources of recruitment.

He said the programme which was sponsored by the Northeast Regional Initiative (NERI) was not to produce winners or losers but to awaken the youths to their role in ending the Boko Haram insurgency.

Topics like ‘How youths can contribute to ending insurgency in the Northeast’ and ‘How students of tertiary institutions can contribute to addressing the problems of Internally Displaced Persons IDPs,’ among others, were debated on with three participants each from Federal University Gashua, Federal Polytechnic, Damaturu, and the host Yobe State University.

At the end, the Federal Polytechnic Damaturu emerged winner with participants receiving a desktop computer and four cell phones, while Federal University Gashua and Yobe State University came second and third respectively.

By Francis Okoye.

The Centre for Information Technology And Development (CITAD) has organized inter-tertiary institutions students debate in the terror-stricken west and central African countries to create  broad ideas as a veritable source for governments and other stakeholders formulating counter- insurgency and counter-terror policies.

A senior programme officer with the Centre, Isa Garba, disclosed this to newsmen at the end of the inter-tertiary institutions students debate between the University of Maiduguri and Ramat Polytechnic, Maiduguri on counter-insurgency in the Lake Chad Basin, which held in Maiduguri at the weekend.

He said, at the national level, the debate, which was already held in Adamawa, would also be held in Yobe.

Mr Garba said the essence of the debate was not to produce winners or losers, but to generate ideas from the principal actors and the main source of recruitment for terror and insurgency, the youth in tertiary institutions, on counter-insurgency.

“The winners from each of the three states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe will represent their respective states at the North-East regional debate; and the winners from this regional level will represent the country at the Grand Sahel Debate involving Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Mali, which would be held at one of the sahelian countries,” he said.

In the Maiduguri debate jointly organised by CITAD and the Northeast Regional Initiative (NERI), the University of Maiduguri participants debated on free education for the IDPs, while their Ramat Polytechnic counterpart dwelt on ways of countering insurgency.

By Hammangabda, Yola.

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), has organized an advocacy debate among students of tertiary institutions as strategy to end insurgency in Adamawa state.

The executive director of CITAD, Mr Yunus Zakari, while declaring the maiden debate open in Yola, said the debate was organized to provide the youths a platform to discuss and proffer solutions to the insurgency crisis in the North-East region.

The participating institutions were: Moddibo Adama University of Technology, Yola, Adamawa State University, Mubi, and Federal Polytechnic, Mubi, in collaboration with the  North East Regional Initiative (NERI).

Zakari said similar discussion would be organized 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.

Earlier, Adamawa Programme Manager of NERI, Mr Machill Maxwell, said NERI has been supporting interventions in areas ravaged by insurgency and such positive mobilization of the youths was one of such supports

“This is one of our soft activities where people are encouraged to sit together and talk and come up with ideas on how  to find solutions to the crisis that has bedeviled the North East.

By Uthman Abubakar, Maiduguri.

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) is to organise Inter-tertiary institutions students debate in the terror-stricken west and central African countries to create a broad ideas bank as a veritable source for governments and other stakeholders formulating counterinsurgency and counter-terror policies.

A senior programme officer with the Centre, Isa Garba, disclosed this to newsmen at the end of the inter-tertiary institutions students debate between the University of Maiduguri and Ramat Polytechnic, Maiduguri on counterinsurgency in the Lake Chad Basin, which held in Maiduguri at the weekend.

“The essence of the debate is not to produce winners or losers, but to generate ideas from the principal actors and the main source of recruitment for terror and insurgency, the youth in tertiary institutions, on counterinsurgency,” the CITAD senior official said.

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.

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.

“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.

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.

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.