(Opinion Article) OF THE PROPOSED HATE SPEECH BILL AND THE IMPENDING FATE OF THE GOVERNED

OF THE PROPOSED HATE SPEECH BILL AND THE IMPENDING FATE OF THE GOVERNED
By: Yusuff Uthman Adekola

The Nigerian populace has been recently fed with an acidulous legislative proposition which many have found uncanny and misrepresentative. The sour proposition, one that insidiously —like the creepy manifestation of HIV/AIDS— contravenes the tenets of democracy which we claim to practice, was that 'hate speech' be accorded certain legal punishment. Then, one's mind cannot but be forced into the wondrous search for what really could have been meant by the phrase, 'hate speech’. Could it have been the unpleasant jibes political parties as well as politicians make at one another in certain political situations— such as during campaigns and other electioneering processes? Or the democratically expected checking and criticism of the representative leaders by the citizens? These questions amongst many more have seized the deck, for contemplative consideration.

To the dismay occasioned by the proposed bill, I, as a citizen, am obliged to further curiously ask: are we still in a democracy or we are introducing a new one blended with dictatorship— perhaps thus giving us a ‘militro-democratic’ governance system? The fact however is, there is no magnitude of elusive or delusive definition that will satisfactorily exonerate the intended bill from its undemocratic blot. And this blot being pointed at is the portended suffocation and suppression of the freedom of speech and expression, a sine qua non of democracy at that. Another question, thereon, takes a seat in the mind: what is a representative government without the tolerance of a reactive populace?

Although the senator who is the proponent of the bill did laudably provide an explanation of the so-called ‘hate speech bill'— as he mentioned unhealthy inter-tribal, inter-religious and some other inter-ideological talks that may incite undesirable clashes—, we still cannot and should not gullibly take it as all that there is to it. I mean, it is quite vehemently arguable that that so-wanted bill and its advocated ‘Independent National Commission for Hate Speeches’ could possibly be none but an instrument of inhibiting criticisms from the public, as the citizens will consequently become bullied into the fear of being sentenced to death. Fact be told, this, actually, is inferable to be a subtle means of patching the supposed political leader's impunity with more power, since all prospectively challenging mouths must have been gagged.

To bring the argument to a clean platter, one must of course state that there really might be some who go past the bearable, in tackling certain sensitive issues. They go about engaging in injurious name calling, character defamation, amongst other possible bellicose engagements, so much so that detrimental resultant effects come springing up. But, I posit: it is left to whosoever falls victim of such to seek redress in a court of law. And, yes, in such cases where there is a life-threatening augury, the security agencies and establishments we have across the country should suffice, except that it is quite pathetic that the porosity of our security system remains unmatched by a sandy soil's.

As can be deduced from the foregoing, there are more sorely pressing issues at hand than the issue of death sentence for the dubitable 'hate speech bill'. Let the security forces be well empowered with adequate funding and management; let the selfishly secured policemen guarding the so-called 'VIPs' and politicians be truly relieved, as recently promised by the erstwhile errant IGP, for it will eventually be to the masses' needed favour; let unnecessary political monetary and other entitlements be considerately excised, all for the betterment and uplift of the nation and her inhabitants. Let all of these and other necessary positivity be ensured and see how ‘love speeches’ would seize the air with wide condensation.

The A-Z of my argument is simply that this proposed bill beams at the possibility of stifling voices that would normally challenge certain dubious actions or considerations. It is hence portentous of a situation where no one is free to express their opinions; where protests must have been a product of deep ruminations, for lack of knowledge of whether death sentence would be the end, and where political analysts and commentators constrainedly shuffle, examine and pick their words. All these, aforementioned, may be so, because nobody will know for sure where or when they may make a 'hate speech’, as so-called.

The government is therefore urged to kindly ensure doing away with the proposed ‘hate speech bill'. May we please focus on more attention-requiring issues?

READ ALSO: FOR THE NOBLE NIGERIA: GRATIFYING OUR LEADERS OF HONOUR

Writer's Bio:
Yusuff Uthman Adekola is a student of the Department of English at University of Ibadan. He may be reached via adekolayusuff@gmail.com .

(POETRY) I will Write a Story \\ by YUA

PHOTO SOURCE: Pinterest


I WILL WRITE A STORY
By: Yusuff Uthman Adekola (YUA)

I will write a story,
A story about this mother
Whose bosoms droop
And hang in a limp stance
That speaks the words
Of age long over-sucking
By the proboscis of sadness...

I will write a story,
A story about this mother
Whose face is a bruised board
Where piercing darts domicile,
Together with a mate of agonies,
And inject the ravaged beauty
With the vastness of faceless wrinkles...

Someday,
I will write a story,
A story about this mother:
A story of conquered corruption;
A story of interred terrorism;
A story of stifled disunity;
A story of blooming love;
A story of wakeful security;
A story of teeming honesty...

I will write a story,
Someday... Someday, soon...

READ ALSO: (POEM) Retired Night; Sacked Day

WRITER'S BIO:
Yusuff Uthman Adekola, presently a student of the University of Ibadan, the Department of English, is a campus journalist, a poet and an essayist who believes in the correctional cum enlightening power that the pen commands. He can be reached via +2348166599760 ; adekolayusuff@gmail.com ; FB: facebook.com/adecaller01

(Opinion Article) FOR THE NOBLE NIGERIA: Gratifying OUR Leaders OF Honour

FOR THE NOBLE NIGERIA: Gratifying OUR Leaders OF Honour
By: Yusuff Uthman Adekola

I remember having been once told, a long time ago, about two men who happened to be victims of different but not unrelated experiences. One of them would hardly laugh but his eyes were always a usual source of teary rainfall, as he experienced series of calamities intermittently bubbling at different times. The other one always had smile stuck upon his lips and never knew what feeling comes with bitterness, as he was often deluged with a good deal of goodies even when not sought. Each of the two men, however, only tasted one side of life and were bored to the bone; so, they oftentimes sought to have a share or the whole of what either had. But, they finally died with no change of condition on either end.

Now, as can be said of the two characters, both of them significantly constituted a related binary of opposing forces. While one wallowed in the death of happiness and the other, in the dearth of sadness, one thing was inevitably common— monopoly of situation and its resultant boredom. Hence, none was describable as being different from the other as the end of their respective dystopian and utopian stories had consequently been a dessert of banality. In essence, their similar ends, notwithstanding their dissimilar life experiences, had made none of them worthy of emulation. Therefore, it can be inferred that a mixture of both the good and the bad makes life really worth living. They could have enjoyed life more, had they not been stuck in the redundancy of a single experience.

Based on the aforementioned, I am obliged to lay it bare before my compatriots of the great nation, Nigeria, that thanking the sailors of our politics is most needed. This, without borrowing from their political equivocation, is simply because they have shown us how unabatedly passionate they have always been in all matters of national interest. Our already politically derided lives of near impoverishment have had additive economic, social and more stringencies included, in all magnanimity. Who knows: perhaps, they have only intended to ensure that life is not made boring, for variety, as often said, is the spice of life. How else can one define considerateness? We have, indeed, got to be thankful to them.

Yes, I have heard of how an earlier generation to ours lived life at an enviable magnitude of blissfulness. The first time I heard about it, I was overtaken by awe and stolen away into the wish that the imaginative picture I had of their own “Nigeria” could come overriding that of ours. But it was not possible and I was disillusioned; I was pained. However, I later got convinced that I was wrong; for little did I know that theirs was a world less of liveliness, compared to ours. Theirs had more of reasons for them to smile —breeding 'boredom'— but ours abound with teeming laughter in abject sorrow— breeding 'liveliness’. Theirs was a half-complete world, barely different from that of the above anecdote, but ours is a totally complete one, no way near what holds in the anecdote. So, I ask: shall we not be thankful to the ones who have perverted the themes of our national story?

Apart from the straitened national economic power and individual financial capability within which we all wallow as a nation, there consistently have been security perforations as well. Killings incessantly topple killings at different instances, as if the culprits were engaged in a battle for who is supreme at the game of the murderous spree. For even that may not be satisfactory enough, there have as well been gory spates of kidnappings and abductions. Yet, not so much has been tangibly achieved as to either the rescuing of the kidnapped or the protection of the yet to be. Our national security men seem to forever remain only for men bestriding the top echelon, while mere 'sekuriti’ is calmly reserved for the deprived masses. Well, this is of course an apt explanative schooling still emphasising the need for a life of mixed experiences— elation today; desolation tomorrow. The archetype of a balanced life bipolarity! So that our lives may be different from that of the two men in the anecdote above. So, shall we still not be thankful to them, the best of leaders?

In fact, amidst the appalling upsurge in violence across the country, there have recently been the mongering of a series of amusing tales purported to be the truth. There has been the money-hungry snake saga which seems to have now slid into forgottenness. There has also been the farm-invading monkeys who, against the naturally expected, did not make away with bananas or maybe banana trees, but confoundingly absconded with a huge sum of money. Most recently, there also has been the second coming of the mythical dragon beast which also gave an offering of its robbing portion, perhaps because even the plotlessness of the nation's story is myth-like. While Nigeria teemed with the pervasion of these tales, everywhere was agog with laughter, such that many momentarily forgot about the surrounding gloom hanging across the atmosphere. An important feat was thus achieved: the heaviness of Nigerians' hearts was lightened through comic conspiracy. By that, we had a mixing of our suffering with smiles, that our mind was briefly robbed of the serious issues underlying the amusement. We have had a lively experience best provided at a time of perturbing tension; so, shall we not be thankful?

Now, I charge every Nigerian, who knows what promethean requirement it takes to be a representative of many, to be heartily thankful, especially in this season of mixed experiences that keep surfacing with all passion. I daresay: had our leaders not fed us with so much varieties of decisional ineptness which afford us the abundance of vicissitudes, life could not have been more interesting. These leaders of ours are, no doubt, phenomenal cognoscenti of unmatched humour dispersal. With unretarded level of acumen, they lend the masses some doses of comic relief as and when deemed necessary by them. Our life, as one big nation, is never made boring; never one-sided, but ever balanced with expertly provided amalgam of the good and its non-identical second. Of course, WE ARE MOST GRATEFUL! And WE CANNOT BE THANKFUL ENOUGH!

READ ALSO: (ARTICLE) God Bless America and may God Redeem and Uplift Nigeria


WRITER'S BIO:
Yusuff Uthman Adekola, presently a student of the University of Ibadan, the Department of English, is a campus journalist, a poet and an essayist who believes in the correctional cum enlightening power that the pen commands. He can be reached via +2348166599760 ; adekolayusuff@gmail.com ; FB: facebook.com/adecaller01