Through experience and in line of professional duty, one has unconsciously developed a thick skin against any negativity targeted at one for whatever reason, and by any person. Instead of getting emotionally disturbed or provoked, one drives enormous pleasure when under attack by whosoever cares to make the attack and for whichever reason. Hate speech has never and will never change my person. Instead, it sharpens my defence mechanism and courage to fight better.
In our Nigeria of today, the political space is often fouled by extreme use of innuendo that incites hate, division, disregard and intolerance for opposing views no matter how factual they may be.
Not a few politicians, political parties and their supporters often employ slanderous and debasing speeches to drive their agenda.
The resort to such speeches has ‘poisoned’ the electoral process such that electioneering campaigns are sometimes just a little less toxic than armed warfare.
Since the country’s return to the current political dispensation, an unquantifiable number of lives and property have been lost to violent clashes among political groups. At the root of this mayhem, is in many cases, hate speech.
But what is a Hate Speech? The Cambridge Dictionary defines hate speech as public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation.
Nigeria’s electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has continued to draw the attention of political parties and candidates to the attendant consequences of hate speech in the electoral process.
Despite that, some politicians’ subsequent actions suggest that INEC’s counsel sometimes goes unheeded. However, those hell-bent on promoting hate speech will have the 2022 Electoral Act to contend with. The attendant consequences of hate speech are already manifesting in the current electoral process.
According to INEC, it has so far tracked over 50 incidents of physical attacks during the ongoing political campaigns across 21 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The Commission’s National Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said: “These unhappy occurrences are coming just a little over one month into the election campaign which is scheduled to last for few months from September 26, 2022 to February 23, 2023 for national elections (Presidential and National Assembly) and from October 12, 2023 – March 11, 2023 for State Governorship and State Houses of Assembly.
“The Commission is worried that if no urgent and decisive steps are taken, the attacks will intensify as we approach the election date. As we all know, a peaceful campaign heralds a peaceful election. We need to take decisive steps to stem the ugly trend”.
Apart from INEC, other well meaning Nigerians and socio-cultural organizations have also cautioned politicians against the use of inciting slogans that intend to ridicule or debase the religion, ethnicity and regions of opponents.
For instance, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) had urged INEC to impose severe sanctions on politicians who engage in hate speeches. It urged leaders to exercise restraints in their public utterances not to overheat the polity for whatever reason.
In his contribution to the unhealthy situation, Deputy Speaker House of Representatives, Ahmed Idris Wase said: “INEC has a responsibility to act and enforce the Electoral Act as amended.
“It should impose the harshest punishment possible on politicians who think achieving their ambitions is more important than national peace and harmony. Such persons are unfit for any form of leadership at whatever level.
“Although Nigeria is already facing severe life threatening challenges arising from lack of security and the growing economic crises, it would seem that there are many desperate politicians and other self-appointed community champions that will not hesitate to add more fuel to the burning fire.
“Shamefully, most of those politicians fanning the embers of hatred are driven by blind ambitions or plain hatred against their opponents. No one can fail to notice the alarming rise of tension and lawlessness as the election campaigns and contests gather pace”.
The Deputy Speaker added: “of much greater concern however, is the resort to hate speech, insults and threats of violence issued by some misbehaving politicians and their supporters, including some supposedly respected leaders.
“They seem to be pathetically unaware that the distance between hate speeches and violence, even genocide, is a very short one.
“Hate speech, for whatever reason, covers many forms of expression but all incite, promote or justify hatred, violence and discrimination against an individual or group of people.
Commenting on the topic of discussion, a renowned legal practitioner and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Ibrahim Bawa Kanje said: “Hate speech poses grave danger to the unity and stability of any democratic society, protection of human rights and the rule of law. If allowed to continue, it can lead to acts of violence and conflict on a grand scale.
“The Electoral Act as amended and for good reasons prescribed heavy punishment for infractions such as this: “The fact that hate speeches and acts of violence and aggression are rife in this campaign season can only mean that the laws are not being enforced as planned. This hasn’t come as a surprise considering the fact that the National Assembly has so far chosen not to enact the law will see to the birth of the Electoral Offences Tribunal. What we need at the moment is for the political players to caution themselves and their supporters and exercise restraint in their public utterances for us to have a peaceful election and transition”.
Also cautioning against the resort to the use of hate speech, the National Peace Committee (NPC), chaired by former military Head of State, Gen. AbdulSalam Abubakar (rtd), called on contesting candidates to restrain their spokesmen and supporters to make the electioneering campaigns violent free.
The committee decried the use of intemperate language, intimidation and outright violence by party supporters. It warned that the development, if not curtailed, could undermine the Peace Accord already signed by all the Presidential candidates at the Abuja International Conference Centre on September 28, 2022.
NPC said it is sad and deeply concerned about the deterioration in the communication of fundamental issues among the politicians since INEC lifted the ban on political campaigns in September.
The statement from NPC reads:”Nigerians have been fed a menu of intemperate language, intimidation and outright violence in the field of the campaigns. It is evident that some of our actors have not learnt any lesson from the past. There is an increasing tone of desperation, if not incitement, among some of the contestants and members of their parties.
“Intra and inter-party wrangling persist, with occasions of violence. In desperation, some selfish political actors use these strategies to pursue their frivolous ambitions in the courts.
“The international community has taken a very keen interest in the development and progress of our country on the path of democracy”.
Expressing his opinion on the disturbing issue of hate speech, His Royal Highness, the paramount traditional ruler of Wase local government, Plateau State, Dr. Muhammadu Sambo Haruna said: “As traditional rulers and peace agents, law enforcement agencies should strive to enforce the enacted laws with the understanding that everyone will be held accountable for his/her actions and no matter his/her societal status.
“The people should be more discreet in the kind of information they circulate on various platforms. Individuals must take responsibility for what they read and post on the social media. We encourage the youth to be more restrained and use their numerical strength to protect their future today.
“We call on all contestants to rein in their spokespersons and those who claim to represent them and their parties in the public media. All candidates should be held responsible for what may be said on their behalf or their parties. Aggressive and abusive language only diminishes the integrity of the individuals, their candidates and their parties. Nigerians should be ready to punish instigators of violence by isolating them or their candidates.
“We are appealing to governments at various levels to ensure a level playing field for all parties in the course of the campaigns. Access to federal, state and local government facilities should be open to all candidates and parties as long as they meet the financial and other commitments to using the public facilities. It is extremely wrong and a gross violation of right to abuse the power of incumbency by subverting the efforts of those who are in opposition to the status quo.
“Parties and citizens do not lose their rights because they are opposed to the party in power because all citizens irrespective of imaginary differences that may exist are above political parties”.
Along the same opinions expressed, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has announced plans to establish a National Hate Speech Register to track inciting and hate speeches in campaigns for the 2023 elections.
The Commission said the action followed the rhetoric of hate speech by political sides and their supporters.
NHRC Executive secretary issued the statement in Abuja at a programme on the launching of Mobilizing Voters for Election. He stated that the Commission is partnering with Facebook and Twitter to develop an easy platform for monitoring media outlets for tracking violators.
According to him, the Commission would be working with relevant security agencies to ensure citizenship access to the voting process and to protect their rights to vote rather than intimidation in place.
Barrister Musa Adamu Idris, was of the opinion that the absence of a Special Electoral Tribunal to try electoral offences has emboldened mischievous politicians to continue to perpetrate criminality, notwithstanding the provisions of the 2022 Electorate Act.
He said: “Section 92 of the Electoral Act 2022 prohibits certain conducts at political campaigns: (1) a political campaign or slogan shall not be tainted with abusive language directly or indirectly that is likely to injure religious, ethnic, tribal or sectional feelings.
(2) Abusive, intemperate, slanderous or base language or insinuations or innuendoes designed or likely to provoke violent reactions or emotions shall not be employed or used in political campaigns.
(3) Places designated for religious worship, police stations, and public offices shall not be used; (a) for political campaigns, rallies and processions (b) to promote, propagate or attack political parties, candidates or their programmes or ideologies.
(4) Masquerades shall not be employed or used by any political party, aspirant or candidate during political campaigns or for any other political purpose
(5) A political party aspirant or candidate of a political party shall not retain, organize, train or equip any person or group of persons for the purpose of enabling them to be employed for the use or display of physical force or coercion in promoting any political objective or interest, or in such manner as to arouse reasonable apprehension that they are organized, trained or equipped for that purpose.
(6) A political party aspirant or candidate shall not keep or use armed private security organization, vanguard or any other group or individual by whatever name called for the purpose of providing security, assisting or aiding the political party or candidate in whatever manner during campaigns, rallies, procession or elections.
(7) A political party, aspirant or candidate that contravenes any of the provisions of this section commits an offence and is liable on conviction—
(a) in the case of an aspirant or candidate, to a maximum fine of N1,000,000.00 or imprisonment for a prison term of 12 months; and (b) in the case of a political party, to a fine of N2,000,000.00 in the first instance, and N1,000,000.00 for any subsequent offence.
Barr. Idris added that: “What Nigerians want to hear from our politicians are issues around the economy, issues around unity, agriculture, jobs creation, skills acquisition, education, security and infrastructure and not hate speech where one person is insulting the other, because it doesn’t add any value to what the people are desperate to have which is good governance”.
A member Plateau State House of Assembly representing Wase state constituency, Yahaya Adamu Mavo said: “Politicians should not allow their supporters to deflect them from the real goal of canvassing votes on the basis of clear policy issues. And I think that’s what most Nigerians want, not hate speech.
“It doesn’t matter which politician is writing or voicing it, it is my personal decision, whether on social media or in the newspapers. I don’t read or listen to it. I always ignore hate speech to have my peace”.
From the quoted expressions, it is clear that democracy is not about abusing or insulting each other, it’s about persuading and educating people to understand your point of view. So, anyone engaged in hate speech or any other negativity that will heat the polity, is not what we should condone.
Muhammad is a commentator on national issues
