Return hate speech bill to Singapore and beg Nigerians for forgiveness — Fani-Kayode tells FG

Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode 

Former Minister of Aviation and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, has said that removing death penalty for hate speech is not enough. But the bill should be scraped.

Recall that the sponsor of hate speech bill, Aliyu Abdullahi, had said the death penalty aspect of the bill will be amended in line with the wish of Nigerians.



He said the bill will undergo some fine-tuning to reflect the views of Nigerians. Adding that the senate will accept contributions and input by critics and supporters of the bill.

He said such will go a long way in giving Nigerians the law to address the disturbing trend of hate speech.

However, while reactions on the controversial bill was ongoing, it was noted that the bill was a replica of Singaporean bill.




This was revealed by Social media commentators who alleged that the Senator’s bill was plagiarised from an Act that was recently signed into law by the Government of Singapore.

A video broadcast released by Frederick Odorige of the Global Coalition for Security Democracy, stated that the title of the bill was copied from the ‘Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act 2019’ of the Republic of Singapore.


He said the Act was passed by the Singaporean Parliament on May 8, 2019 and assented to by President Halimah Yacob on June 3, 2019.

Concerning the title of the bill, Odorige alleged that Musa “ingeniously substituted the word ‘online’ as used by the Parliament of Singapore for ‘Internet.”

The other parts of the title and most of the other contents of the bill, according to him, were exactly the same as that of the Singaporeans.



But reacting on his official Facebook page, Fani-Kayode insisted that the Federal Government should scraped the bill and send it back to Singapore where it originated, and then beg Nigerians for forgiveness.

His words, "Removing the death penalty for so-called "hate speech" is not enough. You must scrap the entire Bill, send it back to Singapore where it came from, get on your grubby and scabby knees and ask God and the Nigerian people for forgiveness for having the temerity to try to deprive them of their right to speak freely.