Senate to expunge death penalty from hate speech bill

Proponent of the anti-hate speech bill before the National Assembly, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, yesterday disclosed that there are plans to tinker with the bill, saying the death penalty will be expunged.

He said part of the bill dealing with the death sentence could be removed due to the strong resistance it received, as the National Assembly reconvened yesterday.

Fielding questions from State House Correspondents during a visit to the Presidential Villa, Abuja with Niger State delegation, Abdullahi insisted that the country required a law to curb abusive offensive verbal or written materials.

The bill, which was initially rejected following criticisms, resurfaced in the Senate and went through two readings in two weeks.

Specifically, the proposed law says that any person who commits hate speech offence of the kind described could be jailed for life and if the offence causes loss of life, the punishment could be death by hanging.
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