LET US DISAPPROVE OF THEM FOR THE RIGHT REASONS: A CASE FOR THE SOCIAL MEDIA AND HATE SPEECH BILLS

The disapproval of the social media and hate speech bills by a lot of nigerians is quite understandable.The ignominy with which the Buhari administration has repeatedly made a mockery of the rule of law has made it almost impossible to trust him.But that is really as far as it goes.If you have any other excuse for being sceptical about these bills,then you probably need to find out more about them.

Over the last couple of days,i have seen people i would have never expected to, hop blindly on the bandwagon and say the social media and hate speech bills are unconstitutional.As a matter of fact,nothing could be farther from the truth.Section 39 of the constitution guarantees freedom of speech but it doesn't guarantee the dissemination of falsehood and the making of offensive statements capable of inciting trouble.Both proposed legislations are clear as to intent and it is preposterous for anyone to outrightly tag them anti-free speech.

The honest truth is that what both bills seek to tackle are issues we would have to address at some point and like i have always said,nigerians need to learn to better manage their displeasure with Buhari.That he has failed woefully doesn't mean no good can come out of his administration or the party he represents.We mustn't throw away the baby with the bath water.

Ours is a delicately set society with various tribes and a very strong passion for religion.In as much as a lot of us wish to one day have a Nigeria where citizens will hold placards and demonstrate at the police headquarters for action to be taken against someone disrespecting their religion or tribe,we are a long way from that.

Only God knows what would have happened if a lot of people took Femi Fani Kayode seriously.In criticizing the Buhari government for using an image of a fulani herdsman and his cows in a page he referred to as 'accursed' in the new nigerian passport,he said "fulani herdsmen are symbols of bloodshed, terror, mass murder, ethnic-cleansing, genocide, carnage, torment, trauma and evil".This is just one of several times FFK has come out to say derogatory things about the fulani.The hate speech bill aims to curb comments like this and if people like FFK tell you it is meant to steal away your constitutional right to freedom of expression because they will no longer talk like this and walk scot free,please disregard them.

The more sensational a piece of news sounds,the faster it is likely to spread.Former Senator representing Kaduna North Central, Shehu Sani said he heard rumours N70M belonging to northern senators was carted away by monkeys and till this very moment, most people have come to regard the official position on that matter as 'monkeys stole N70M'.When the Federal Government said the RUGA initiative meant to settle and confine cattle and livestock rearers to a particular space was optional and that only interested state governments could apply for it, mischief makers hit town with the news that Buhari was trying to 'fulanize' the entire country and wanted his people in place to seize every land.There were quite verifiable reports of the Jonathan administration approving what Reno Omokri has gone on to say was as much as N100bn for RUGA ( i re-emphasize the need to better manage our displeasure with Buhari) and when Gov. Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi state shed some more light on the initiative by saying the RUGA idea originally belonged to our colonial fathers, FFK said he should take 'his accursed cows and do his RUGA there'.

The government had to cancel what would have otherwise benefitted a community like Benue which has a very long history of farmer/herdsmen crisis.Politicians being politicians and knowing they count on the support of the majority, have had to shelve very well-meaning plans because of the shenanigans of a set of people skilled at exploiting public discontent to suit the objectives of their static and myopic minds.The more accepted position of RUGA as things stand is that Buhari's plan to forcefully settle fulanis across Nigeria to 'take over' was fought and defeated.

Like i said earlier,the social media law is something we were always bound to consider; if not now,then some time in the near future.We would be doing ourselves more harm than good in the great words of Benjamin Franklin by putting off until tomorrow what we can do today for obviously wrong reasons.Before anyone forms an opinion on these bills,it is important they read them or at the very least,endeavour to find out what they are really about.

Some commentators have gone on to say the Cyber Crimes Act of 2015 has tackled what the Social Media and Hate speech bills seek to address but it is not so.Section 15 (Cyberstalking) makes mention only of falsehood meant to cause annoyance,needless anxiety and inconvenience to another.Injurious falsehood doesn't have to be targeted at an individual alone.The Social Media bill not only deals with falsehood in a broader sense, it also mentions network providers that defy warnings to shut down such a subscriber and also seeks to punish the sponsors of these fake news.

Section 18 of the Act speaks about racist and Xenophobic offences and it doesn't speak about provocative and divisive statements leading to the death of persons.The one valid controversy the bill generated was the death penalty it sought to put in place for that offence which was widely deemed too harsh.Its sponsor,Senator Sabi Abdullahi has graciously removed that.

I for one was worried about these bills turning out to be legislations President Buhari wanted in place to help achieve a 3rd term plan.But there is nothing in these bills that suggest they want to punish anything other than falsehood and comments capable of stirring trouble or that ample room has been left for them to be manipulated capriciously.

Admittedly,they are coming at the wrong time.Buhari has proven over time to have no respect for the law and even a legislation seeking to control reckless and malicious speech is bound to be interpreted as an attempt to gag nigerians.There are concerns but most aren't valid.What we really ought to be doing is pointing out dubious loopholes that will allow for these bills if they eventually become laws, to be used unjustly and not say they are 'unconstitutional' or an attempt to suppress free speech without making any sense of how they so do.

Buhari may have given us reasons to hate him but we must also learn to keep an open mind regarding policies and weigh them like we truly want what is good for us.

WHY HAVE SOWORE'S SURETIES NOT COME FORWARD?

There was an air of certitude to the DSS' call for Omoyele Sowore's sureties to come and pick him up.The Buhari administration has never hidden its intention to hold onto him and one ordinarily would expect his lawyers,former PDP youth leader and activist,Deji Adeyanju and others that went to pick him up to begrudgingly be told so.But the DSS instead came to the media to relay its 'predicament'.

By the time its spokesperson, Peter Afunanya said they couldn't release him to a mob and asked "What if he got hit by a car?", my suspicions had reached a crescendo.The man appeared to know those sureties won't come forward and was using that to taunt Sowore's people.

Everyone supporting Sowore believes he is being punished for nothing other than wanting the best for his country and it is mind-boggling that when the power to free the man finally leaves Buhari and his DSS,those clamouring for his release duck and refuse to at the very least,urge his sureties to visit the DSS.You can't be screaming 'Free Sowore' when you haven't gotten his sureties to visit the DSS and shut down the one excuse they so confidently put forth.

The first thing the DSS said was that 'no one came to pick him up' and now they have said 'he will only be handed to sureties'.While it is perfectly understood that the Buhari administration has over the last 4 years and 6 months,exhibited an unprecedented disregard for the rule of law,it has never publicly promised to release a person upon the fulfilment of a condition and failed.It at least deserves the benefit of the doubt.

To be realistic,no sane person would insist on fighting the propriety of the authorities insisting he must be handed over to sureties instead of rescuing him from detention.So what really is the problem; are Sowore's sureties high profile politicians or businessmen that wouldn't want to risk offending Buhari?.Well,the odds are he knew their identities from the very moment they presented themselves to the court.Were they threatened?.

As part of Sowore's bail conditions,he was to deposit the sum of N50M to the court.Sowore may not be poor but that is a hefty sum for a man like him.Okay,say he scrapped that up,one also has to consider that for his co-accused,the lesser known and affluent Olawale 'Mandate' Bakare to fulfil his (which he did),he was required to put forth N20M.That is N70M altogether.

Its more probable than not that someone 'important' sympathized with them.Maybe more than one.Could it be that these same sympathizers stood as sureties and were subsequently arm-twisted into abandoning him?.Sowore is up against the government of the federal republic and his adversary is in a position to issue potent threats to just about any politician or businessman in this country rich enough to cough out that much for someone else's bail.

Just one of the sureties being absent would automatically mean they fall short of the DSS' condition of release.

Something is not right and that Sowore's people haven't fixed a date to accompany his sureties to the DSS office amidst much fanfare more than anything suggests the core members of his movement have conceded to the wishes of the surety/sureties and are appreciative enough of their efforts not to publicize their identity/identities.

Sowore's lawyer,Femi Falana has been the most vocal of his camp and in as much as his dedication to fighting injustice is most commendable,right now he should only be heard bemoaning the refusal of the DSS to hand over Sowore despite his sureties making themselves available and not that Justice Ojukwu's order did not specify that he be handed to those that will guarantee his presence in court.

In as much as he is saying the truth,the DSS would sell itself as taking precautionary measures in the name of national security and also ask why if he was such a fan of 'strict sense',he didn't insist on transferring Sowore to either the Suleja or Kuje Prisons from the cozy DSS detention facility he chose to stay when the court ordered him to be moved to either.

Enough of the 'Free Sowore' cries,the needful at the moment is addressing head-on why Sowore's sureties have not come forward to put him out of his misery.That is the right thing to do.

OSINBAJO: BUHARI CAN'T KEEP FRIENDS AND IS MAKING ENEMIES

The old Muhammadu Buhari was very reserved and easy-going.There is no record (factual or speculative) of him initiating political alliances or of him going the extra mile to consolidate his political ties other than attending marriage ceremonies and a few other social events.He was the most loved political figure in northern Nigeria and the politicians jumping over themselves to associate with him badly needed to tap into his clout.Buhari with the leaches aside,is a recluse.

When Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu kick-started the process of building a mega opposition party,it was him who reached out to Buhari and an agreement was reportedly struck for Tinubu to 'lead' the party and for Buhari to get the 2015 Presidential ticket.

Now as President of Nigeria,a deficiency in managing existing relations may eventually turn out the greatest undoing of the new Muhammadu Buhari and sadly enough,he may not even realize till its too late.Goodluck Jonathan may have rallied the right people and gotten them to prevail on President Buhari to grant 'amnesty' to himself and his wife,Dame Patience whose properties and monies the EFCC keeps seizing without charging her to court.Diezani Madueke too,whom EFCC boss,Ibrahim Magu has been promising to extradite for more than 2 years now.I doubt if Buhari can pull that off with a PDP government in 2023.

President Buhari and Vice-President Osinbajo

There are very few people he can bank on to stick their necks out for him if at all he tries to reach out.The only people that have forced themselves on him over the years are those that stand to gain from him politically and at the rate Buhari is going,he may not only lack anyone in his APC  to depend on,he will become a target there too.

At the commencement of President Buhari's 2nd term in office,most political observers said whenever the issue came up, that it wasn't safe to think a Bola Tinubu 2023 bid would resonate with Buhari.He would rather have his loyal Vice-President run instead.

A politically naive Buhari in 2015 set about making the APC more democratic and ensured the Tinubu-installed party chairman,John Odigie Oyegun had a louder say.That essentially meant Tinubu had to shed a large degree of control in the party.When a war erupted between Tinubu and Oyegun his former stooge in the build-up to the Ondo gubernatorial election,Oyegun floored Tinubu hands down by ensuring his preferred choice,Rotimi Akeredolu emerged as the APC's flag bearer over Tinubu's candidate.

It was so bad the word then was that Tinubu was planning to leave with Atiku and a handful of other people to start a new party.Buhari has always hated Tinubu's guts and it is a testament to Asiwaju's patience and political foresight that he has stuck around,sucked it all in and focused on how best to co-exist with his bully 'friend' in power.When his annointed candidate for the APC ticket in Lagos state,Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu won the party primary, a 'committee' was sent from Abuja to Lagos and their first point of duty was spreading the word that the just concluded Lagos primary was not recognized by the party and that a valid one would hold the next day.

Starting a messy war with the people of Lagos a few months to the general elections wasn't a good idea so eventually Sanwo-Olu's victory was allowed to stand.Buhari it was presumed,would rather have his loyal Vice-President Prof.Yomi Osibanjo take over and not Jagaban.At the very least,it will guarantee he sleeps good at night.However,happenings over the last couple of months have strongly suggested otherwise.It is not clear whether Buhari waited till he had gotten a 2nd term or that he suddenly grew disdainful of VP Osinbajo but one thing that is clear is that Osinbajo is currently not in his good books.The least Buhari could do was grant Osinbajo supervisory powers over the recently constituted economic advisory council since he didn't want him heading it after dismantling the old economic management team which he led.The constitution of the council was made to contain a rider that they would report to the President directly.

The Social Investment Programmes were also seized from Osinbajo and after that,he was asked to now seek approval from President Buhari in respect of several government agencies whose governing boards he led as chairman.Most people in the camps of the President and his Vice denying that Buhari was sticking it to Osinbajo totally forget to consider that if it wasn't so,Buhari would soft pedal at least for the optics.

But the President didn't stop there.He went to Saudi Arabia and moved to London from there on a 'private visit' without transmitting a letter to the National Assembly notifying it of Osinbajo's acting capacity as laid down by our constitution.Rather he ensured it was in the public domain that Abba Kyari flew to London with the PSC bill for him to sign and also made sure pictures were taken of him doing so.Then Osinbajo's aides were drastically reduced on the excuse that they were more than the President's.The million naira question is WHAT HAS OSINBAJO DONE WRONG?.Is it that Buhari can't stand the thought of people around him being ambitious or is it that he can't imagine not handing over to a non-northerner?.Its really hard to understand.

If there was a genuine issue,an anonymous story trying to justify Buhari's actions and manage public opinion would have leaked to the press listing the Vice President's sins.The most noteworthy thing Osinbajo has done since Buhari travelled is host the Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam.He has gone on a farm visit to Nasarrawa,attended an investment summit in Delta,headlined a prayer breakfast by the National Assembly and as of this moment,is on his way to represent Buhari in Niger Republic.The Emir of Daura, Buhari's home town said last weekend that Osinbajo was the most honest politician Nigeria has had in recent times.It indicates that Buhari will lose a lot of goodwill if the onslaught continues.

Aisha Buhari came out to say before the elections that 'Nigeria was in the hands of 2 or 3 people and that the men should wrestle it back'.None of the '2 or 3' names mentioned as members of Buhari's cabal are non-northerners and secondly, if a President from the South emerges in 2023,none of those names weild enough influence to save him if it gets ugly.

The spokesperson of the Afenifere,Yinka Odumakin has said President Buhari stopped handing over to VP Osinbajo since he sacked and arrested his former DSS chief and townsman,Lawal Daura.The weighty implication of this is that a yoruba President would score a lot of points with his people if he looked into everything Buhari did.There are a number of facts that support arguments of Buhari's ethnic bias.Add that virtually all of the South East and most of the South South along with some of Buhari's fellow northerners would love it and that President would be endearing himself to the entire country.A political leper bad at cultivating and keeping relationships would be helpless and maybe only then would he realize he should at least have made no enemies if he was bad at keeping friends.