Ebun Francis| Former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd), on Wednesday, joined the growing list of Nigerians opposed to the Hate Speech Bill which passed the second reading in the Senate recently.
Babangida, who described the bill was inimical to the growth of the country, warned the sponsors not to try to muzzle Nigerians.
The former military president made the disclosure when the national leadership of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) visited him at his hilltop residence in Minna, the Niger State capital.
According to him, there is no basis for the ‘Hate Speech Bill’ before the National Assembly and no one can muzzle the voice of Nigerians.
Babangida said, “There is no basis for this; now we are developing and we should be allowed to develop.”
“If we make mistakes people can be cautioned; if somebody goes off, you have the right to call him to say ‘no we don’t want this.”
Babangida also frowned at the death penalty prescribed in the bill, describing it as “crude”.
“If somebody made hate speech and you put him in the gallows and shoot him, it is crude; it is not 21st century. It could have happened maybe some 300 years ago but not now.”
“I am with you on this; I will also talk to those of us who could be in position to bring sanity to bear on some of these things,” he assured.
The NUJ National President, Christopher Isiguzo, had earlier in his opening remark solicited the support of the former military president in the fight against the hate speech bill.
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