President Buhari has expressed his stance against the highly controversial Social Media Draft Bill. This is in an effort to protect the right of free speech, an essential element of all democratic societies.
According to Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, Buhari will not give his assent to any legislation which goes against such right contained in the Nigerian constitution.
“He is not averse to lawful regulation, so long as that is done within the ambit of the constitution, which he swore to uphold,” he said, as cited in The Nation.
The bill in question, which aims to punish the propagation of false information or abusive messages against the Nigerian government on electronic media, has been the source of major public outcry in recent days, with media coverage by even international news houses.
If passed into legislation, offenders could be served a jail sentence of up to seven years or a $25,000 (£16,000) fine.
Nigerians have expressed their angst against the proposal with the hashtag
#NoToSocialMediaBill on Twitter.
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