Monitoring People’s Posts Obnoxious, Anti-Democratic –Sagay, Falana SAN Prof Itse Sagay (SAN) - Uju Ayalogu's Blog for News, Reviews, Articles and More

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Monday 29 January 2018

Monitoring People’s Posts Obnoxious, Anti-Democratic –Sagay, Falana SAN Prof Itse Sagay (SAN)

Monitoring People’s Posts Obnoxious, Anti-Democratic –Sagay, Falana SAN  Prof Itse Sagay (SAN)

The Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, rejected the idea of monitoring private citizens, saying it would be undemocratic.

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, however, said there was a need to curb the spread of hate speech which he noted was on the increase.

Sagay added that anyone found culpable of spreading hate speech should be prosecuted by the authorities.

He said, “Definitely, hate speech is something to be condemned and while I don’t think we should engage in monitoring what people are saying, the issue now is ‘how else will the propagation of hate speech be stopped?’

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“Social media has become a big tool for people to say all sorts and these things spread to millions of people sometimes. My opinion is that while there is basic freedom of speech and a right to use the social media at our disposal, we must do so within certain bounds of security and decency.

“So, while the issue of monitoring is a bit obnoxious, let me say that if anybody is found to have abused the right to freedom of expression by engaging in hate speech, he should be prosecuted. But I don’t support entirely the issue of monitoring because that will turn Nigeria to a sort of ‘Big Brother’ state, which is anti-democratic.”

Ngige, in its own reaction, said, “I have a mixed reaction. One, every Nigerian has the constitutional right to free speech. But that right is not a licence for hate speech. Therefore, if there are steps to guard against hate speech on the social media by the government, I support it.

“However, the government may want to and must not use it against the opposition or political opponents of the government. This must be guarded against.”

Also, human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), said the directive by the Federal Government would lead to a violation of the rights of the citizens.

He told one of our correspondents on Saturday that the Federal Government could not carry out the monitoring without a court order.

He said, “Section 37 of the Constitution of Nigeria has guaranteed the fundamental right of every citizen to privacy of their home, telephone and correspondence.

“To the extent that emails, WhatsApp, twitter and SMS are part of the correspondence of notable Nigerians, the security agencies cannot monitor them without a court order.”

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