A coalition of civil society groups and publishers of various online media in Nigeria, on Tuesday, staged a peaceful protest to the National Assembly to express their grievances over the Frivolous Petitions and other related matters Bill.
The protesters led by Messrs Aisha Yusuf, Anthony Ehilebo, Ariyo Atoye, Mukhtar Daniyan, and Ahmad Isa, said the bill, which they claimed was designed to gag social media practitioners, passed second reading in the senate last week.
They specifically alleged that Section 4 of the bill prescribed a two year-jail term or a fine of N2m as punishment for anyone who post abusive statement known to be false, in any social media.
They argued that the offensive section of the bill was against Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Section 39 (1) of the 1999 constitution.
Senators Shehu Sani and Enyinnaya Abaribe, who addressed the protesters, assured them that the senate will not introduce any law that will gag Nigerians from freely expressing themselves.
Abaribe later laid the group’s letter on the floor of the senate and the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, directed the committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to investigate the claims of the protesters.
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