PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu on Thursday promised to defend the democratic right of Nigerians to freedom of speech.
In his Democracy Day speech at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja, the President told security agents not to hound those criticising his administration’s perceived unpleasant policies.
“Democracy requires a fair degree of tolerance for harsh words and stinging insults,” Tinubu stated before a retinue of lawmakers from the Senate and the House of Representatives.
“Call me names, call me whatever you will, and I will still call upon democracy to defend your right to do so.”
Tinubu urged his political loyalists and lawmakers to value dialogue over dictatorship, persuasion over suppression, and rights over might.
“Be tolerant and broad-minded in your legislative action regarding speech and civil liberties,” he said.
Several journalists and persons have been haunted by their criticisms of the Tinubu administration and alleged violation of the Cybercrime Prohibition Act 2015 and other extant laws of the land.
The Tinubu administration has come under heavy criticism over alleged violation of Chapter 4, Section 39 (a) of the 1999 Constitution, which prescribed that “every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference”.
In the first two years of the Tinubu administration, Daniel Ojukwu, Adejuwon Soyinka, and Segun Olatunji, among others, have spent days in the custody of state-sponsored security agents, a development that pro-democracy activists, as well as professional bodies Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the International Press Institute (IPI Nigeria), have described as an ugly trend.
Many civil organisations have also expressed concerns over the Gestapo-style arrest of journalists by state security agents, saying it is an echo from the past and a prominent feature of the dark years of military rule. They said the ugly development impugned press freedom 26 years after Nigeria transitioned from dictatorial rule to democratic governance.
In his third Democracy Day speech, Tinubu, who assumed office on May 29, 2023, pledged to uphold the right to free speech.
“Do not be afraid to hear an unkind word spoken against you. Some of the best advice a politician gets sometimes comes from his most ferocious opponents. We dare not seek silence because the imposed silence of repressed voices breeds chaos and ill will, not the harmonics of democracy in the long term.
“While malicious slander and libel should not go unattended, no one should bear the brunt of injustice for merely writing a bad report about me or calling me names.
“Our nation is not perfect, but it is strong. Our democracy is not invincible, but it is alive. And this means our dream of a prosperous, happy nation is still within reach and worth fighting for,” he said.
The president also dismissed fears by the opposition that Nigeria was heading to a one-party state.