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The Federal Government again stirred up a hornets’ nest last week when it said it would start monitoring the social media accounts of prominent Nigerians. This is a move that lawyers and Information Technology experts have described as anti-democratic and anti-social, writes JESUSEGUN ALAGBE
Last Thursday, the Federal Government came up with a directive, asking security agencies to commence monitoring the social media accounts of “notable” Nigerians, the reason being to curb the propagation of hate speech.
The Minister of Defence, Brig.-Gen. Mansur Dan-Ali (retd.), had given the instruction at a National Security Council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
“Relevant security agencies should as a matter of urgency tackle the propagation of hate speech through the social media, particularly by some notable Nigerians,” the minister stated, describing the hate speech phenomenon on social media as worrisome.
Since giving this directive, several Nigerians, including members of the National Assembly, Senior Advocates of Nigeria, opposition parties and labour unions, had condemned the move, describing it as unconstitutional.
The Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Council against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), also described the government’s move as “obnoxious and anti-democratic,” even though he agreed that hate speech was a problem that needed to be dealt with.
Although the Federal Government did not provide clues about who could be categorised as a “notable” Nigerian, whoever they are, lawyers and political analysts have described the move as “suspicious.”
Perhaps the government was trying to tackle defamatory or libellous statements made against it, lawyers said the solution was not by placing the social media accounts of any citizen under monitoring, but rather by seeking redress in the court of law.
In an interview, the Publicity Secretary of Youth Arise for Nigeria, Mr. Liborous Oshoma, a lawyer and political analyst, alleged that it would be hypocritical of the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government to start going against the same social media phenomenon [hate speech] that brought it into power.
“The guilty are afraid when no one is pursuing them. This is a government that rode to power on hate speech. I think this new move is about the next year’s elections. Nigerians have been giving them feedback which they don’t like via the social media, so thinking of monitoring the people is cowardice, especially when one would expect them to try to right all the wrongs,” he said.
Oshoma also said if the government was serious about tackling hate speech, it ought to have arrested the leaders of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria for making incendiary statements when the Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, passed the anti-open grazing bill into law in October 2017.
Few days after the law was enacted, the leadership of Miyetti Allah had warned that the move would do more harm than good if not reversed.
The national secretary of the group, Alhassan Saleh, had described Fulani pastoralists as a peaceful set of Nigerians who should not be taken for granted.
“The patience of our people is running out. They are being pushed to the wall and that might force them to react someday, and their anger would be devastating. That is basically what we are trying to prevent,” he had said.
By the start of January 2018, suspected Fulani herdsmen attacked five communities in the Guma and Logo local government areas of Benue State, killing 73 people.
Oshoma asked what more could be described as hate speech than the one made by Saleh and other leaders of the Miyetti Allah.
“After their threat, we all saw what happened. Yet, the government didn’t arrest any of them. Hence, telling us that they are monitoring social media because of hate speech is just an attempt to muzzle the opposition,” he said.
The lawyer added, “Libel and defamation are both civil wrongs, so if you think you have been defamed, you can approach the court to seek redress and the court will then restrain the defamer.
“Social media monitoring for hate speech runs afoul of any known law in Nigeria and it shows lack of seriousness by the government.”
Since the President Buhari administration came into power in May 2015, the quest to control the social media space of the citizens has been persistent, though some of the efforts have failed.
In December 2015, a draft bill named the “Prohibit Frivolous Petitions and Other Matters Connected Therewith,” proposed by the Deputy Senate Leader from Kebbi State, Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah, had proposed two years imprisonment, or a fine of $10,000 (N3.6m), or both, for anyone posting an “abusive statement” via text message, Twitter, WhatsApp, or any other form of social media.
Although the proposed law passed the second reading in the Senate, it was later jettisoned after several Nigerians, using the #NoToSocialMediaBill hashtag, took to Twitter to oppose it.
Then, the Senior Policy Manager, Africa, World Wide Web Foundation, Ms Nnenna Nwakanma, viewed the bill as meant to protect persons in high positions and institutions.
“If a citizen cannot call out the negativities happening at high positions and public institutions, are we not going back to the Stone Age?” Nwakanma, who is also the co-founder of The Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa, had asked.
The Executive Director of the Paradigm Initiative Nigeria, Mr. ‘Gbenga Sesan, had also criticised the Federal Government, saying, “It’s a huge shame that the same platform that contributed to the victory of the APC, and allowed the citizens to voice their dissatisfaction with the Peoples Democratic Party government, is now the target of attack by a member of the same APC.”
The bill was eventually dropped in May 2016 when the David Umaru-led Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, which recommended its withdrawal, said that most of the provisions of the bill had already been covered by other extant laws of the Federation and could not be duplicated.
Also, in July 2017, the National Council on Information, headed by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, recommended the setting up of a council to regulate the use of social media in the country.
The council also expressed fear that the social media might take over the 2019 elections because Nigerians had come to rely more on it than the conventional media.
In August 2017, the Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen. John Enenche, admitted that the Nigerian military was monitoring the social media for “anti-government, anti-military and anti-security” communication.
Likewise, in November 2017, the Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, said the Federal Government was set to formulate policies and guidelines that would control the use of the social media by Nigerians, saying that the platform had become too critical to be ignored or undermined by the government.
Although the minister promised that the policies would not hamper the freedom of expression of the citizens, analysts believed that social media control was tantamount to infringement of the citizens’ rights.
In November 2017, the Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Abdullahi Gana Muhammadu, said it would start arresting those who post offensive, provocative and disparaging statements regarding the corps on the social media.
Meanwhile, warnings such as one given by Muhammadu have materialised in the past.
For instance, in February 2017, the police arrested a lawyer and Chief Executive of Chocolate City Entertainment, Audu Maikori, for allegedly making inciting comments on Twitter regarding the killings which took place in southern Kaduna in January 2017, in which over 200 people died.
Also, in March 2017, a Katsina Chief Magistrate’s Court sentenced one Gambo Saeed to nine months’ imprisonment for “insulting and defaming” the state governor, Aminu Masari, on the social media.
But just like Oshoma, the President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Mr. Malachy Ugwummadu, said there was no provision in the law for any Federal Government’s agency to arrest anyone based on their social media posts, except where such posts threatened the security of the people.
He said, “The Federal Government has been making efforts to curtail the freedom of speech of Nigerians right from time. Last year when it proposed the same initiative, we saw the motive and clearly pointed out that it negated the fundamental right of freedom of expression, including the freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference, as guaranteed under Section 39 of the Constitution.
“Apart from breaching the right of Nigerians to freedom of expression, it also breaches the right to privacy. You cannot just tap into the conversation of Nigerians and intrude into their privacy.
“And you know, you don’t legislate on exitus impossibilitatis (issue of impossibility). Giving security agencies the freedom to monitor social media posts is not good for democracy. There are already provisions that cater for hate speech or others. If you find anyone making scandalous or libellous statements against you, the law provides that you can seek redress in the court of law. So, handling of hate speech is already provided for in the law.”
A lawyer and political commentator, Mr. Tunde Esan, also said it would amount to an infringement of the citizens’ rights if they were arrested based on their perceived anti-government posts.
Boasting an Internet population of 92 million, with a population of 15 million on Facebook and 1.8 million on Twitter, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission, the country has a vibrant social media scene, fuelled by a rapid increase in mobile phone usage.
With over 347 million tweets by Nigerians alone in 2015, according to London-based political consultancy and public relations agency, Portland Communications, the social media has become a crucial outlet where the citizens demand more accountability and transparency from the government.
For instance, in the wake of the Arab Spring [the series of revolutionary demonstrations across the Middle East and North Africa that commenced in 2010], social media platforms, especially Facebook and Twitter, were seen to have imparted a political change in the region as nine out of 10 Egyptians and Tunisians responded to a poll that they used Facebook to organise protests and spread awareness.
Meanwhile, as governments around the world are dramatically increasing their efforts to control the people’s usage of the social media, threatening the notion of the Internet as a liberating technology, the Freedom on Net as a project has intensified seeking stoppage to governments’ censoring or monitoring of how individuals use the web.
Information Technology expert and Communications and Public Affairs Manager, Google West Africa, Mr. Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, cautioned the Federal Government against monitoring the citizens on social media, which he said had helped the citizens to contribute to public discourse and national development.
“You have to leave the web space for the people. Monitoring the activities of people on social media is anti-web; it is not good for public discourse,” he noted.
In the meantime, in an e-mail, the Paradigm Initiative Nigeria has vowed to challenge the Federal Government’s latest attempt to curtail free speech online.
Making reference to Dan-Ali’s directive to security agencies, PIN’s Digital Rights Programme Manager for Anglophone West Africa, ‘Boye Adegoke, said, “As Nigeria heads for the general elections in 2019, Nigerians must not allow the government to trample on constitutionally guaranteed rights such as free speech. Digital rights like privacy and freedom of expression are important features of modern societies and must not be allowed to be abused by people who are afraid of criticism.”
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