“Don’t Pass Death Penalty For Hate Speech Into Law” – Soyinka Tells Federal Government

Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, has written to the National Assembly over the consequence of passing a bill stipulating death penalty for hate speech.

He said this in his letter to Nigerian lawmakers.

Recall that the bill was sponsored by the Deputy Chief Whip, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi (Niger North), and has already passed the first reading at the Senate.

However, Soyinka said he will never be in support of fake news and hate speech but a death penalty was not acceptable to him.

He said:-

“It is no fake news that I have denounced the purveyors of public lies and hate material as the very scum of the earth. I have called them names that come close to enrolling me among the very reprobates we all so fervently denounce.

“I have utilized every available platform to highlight their perverse mentality and call for concerted action against their hyper-activism against humanity in general.

“I have singled out the Nigerian species of this criminal pursuit as an especially virulent breed, as a subhuman aberration without conscience, incapable of remorse, sustained by abnormal reserves of sadism.

“I have closed down dozens of fake sites instituted over my name, and set in motion mechanisms for the pursuit of those who steal my identity, even where the content is quite harmless, even positive.

“As you may have discerned so far, I again, and unapologetically, exploit this very development to reiterate my detestation and contempt for such pestilences that plague our humanity.”

Soyinka implored the lawmakers to find another way to resolve the issues at hand other than passing into law of death sentence.

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