The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has on Tuesday, threatened to sue the Northern Governors Forum, NGF, and the National Assembly, if the Social Media Bill is passed,
SERAP said this in a tweet, while reacting to the call by the Northern States Governors for more social media regulation, in the wake of the EndSARS protests.
“We will sue the Northern Governors Forum and @nassnigeria, if any Social Media Bill is passed and signed by President Buhari. Nigerians have a right to freedom of expression online.
“We will not accept any illegal attempts to interfere with that right #NoToSocialMediaBill”, SERAP stated on Twitter.
The Northern States Governors had earlier on Monday, after a meeting with Northern Traditional and Political Leaders, called for censorship and control of the social media.
Their decision was contained in a communique read by the Chairman of the NGF and Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong.
The Northern Governors lamented over what they described as the devastating effect of the uncontrolled social media in spreading of fake news, and in turn, fuelling crisis.
The Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulations Bill, popularly known as the Social Media Bill, was sponsored in 2019, by Senator Mohammed Sani Musa.
However, the President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, earlier in 2020, stated that the National Assembly would not arrogate to itself the power of exclusively passing the Social Media Bill into law, without inputs from Nigerians.
Lawan stated this in an address delivered to declare open a Public Hearing on the Social Media Bill.
He said that freedom of speech, and the inalienable rights of man, are issues that should not be compromised under any guise.
More news later…
