Senate
President, Bukola Saraki, has promised the speedy passage of the Ant-hate
speech and the Anti- Jungle Justice bill, once the House resumes plenary in
September.
Saraki made the promise in a statement released by his media aide
Yusuf Olaniyonu. Read the statement below:
As the 8th
Senate lays out its agenda for the next 22-months, President of the Senate, Dr.
Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has highlighted that due to the rising tensions in the
polity, the passage of Bills to mitigate against hate speech and jungle justice
will comprise a major part of the Senate’s social impact agenda when it resumes
in September.
In a
statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Yusuph
Olaniyonu, Saraki stated that the Senate is ready to give the Hate Speech Bill
accelerated consideration when it is presented by the Executive.
“At this
point in time, when people are heating up the political and social space with
their utterances, the Hate Speech Bill will help to mitigate against verbal
attacks or expressions against individuals or groups on the basis of ethnicity,
religion, and even gender.
“This will
help to send a clear message with accompanying punitive measures to those
negative elements in our society that are fond of distasteful comments that
hurt, offend and provoke retaliation,” the President of the Senate said.
Saraki also
stated that the Anti-Jungle Justice Bill (SB. 109), which is sponsored by
Senator Dino Melaye, (APC-Kogi), will also help to curtail, protect and
prohibit Nigerians across the country from meting out extra-judicial justice to
perceived offenders without recourse to statutory legal channels.
“There have
been many cases of extrajudicial executions across the nation. We all remember
the "Aluu Four" incident, and several other notorious cases of phone
and food thieves being set ablaze. We cannot have a situation where people feel
that they can take the law into their hands,” Saraki said, “Therefore, we must
put in place careful stopgaps and penal measures to protect the sanctity of our
communities.”
The Senate
President also stated that the Committee on Judiciary and the Rules and
Business Committees of the Senate would work to ensure that Anti-Jungle Justice
Bill is quickly passed and sent to the House of Representatives for
concurrence.
I pray
criminals should not take advantage of this!!!!
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