Buzz by Olumide Iyanda
Email: oiyanda@yahoo.com Twitter: @mightyng
From the playground of Shakiti Bobo and professed people’s advocate, Dino Melaye, the Nigerian Senate is fast becoming a chamber for awon omo wobe. For those with little knowledge of Lagos street lingo, omo wobe loosely means anybody with questionable intention. And that is putting it mildly.
The otherwise distinguished members of the Senate took rascality to the Upper Chamber last week with the second reading of a draft bill to “Prohibit Frivolous Petitions and Other Matters Connected Therewith”. It was presented by Senator Ibn Bala Na’Allah, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) representing Kebbi South on November 24. By December 2, it had been passed to the committees on ICT, Judiciary, and Ethics and Privileges.
In a curious case of inmates taking over the asylum, the lawmakers are considering punishing “any person who acts, uses, or cause to be used any petition or complaints not accompanied by duly sworn affidavit” with an imprisonment for a term of two years or a fine of N200,000 or both. It goes further: “Where any person in order to circumvent this law makes any allegation and or publish any statement, petition in any paper, radio, or any medium of whatever description, with malicious intent to discredit or set the public against any person or group of persons, institutions of government, he shall be guilty of an offence and upon conviction, shall be liable to an imprisonment term of two years or a fine of N4million. Where any person through text message, tweets, WhatsApp or through any social media posts any abusive statement knowing same to be false with intent to set the public against any person and group of persons, an institution of government or such other bodies established by law shall be guilty of an offence and upon conviction, shall be liable to an imprisonment for two years or a fine of N2million or both fine and imprisonment.”
This piece of daft legislation is not only an infringement on the universally guaranteed freedom of expression but a tool to protect public officials from scrutiny. Claims that the bill is designed to ensure sanity in the media, and by extension the cyberspace, is as genuine as Melaye’s respect for the APC. As noted by the Nigerian Guild of Editors in a statement on Sunday, “that there are already existing laws in our Constitution that can accommodate all the concerns, real or imagined, that the proposed Bill is expected to address. These laws include the Cyber Crime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act 2015, the Libel law etc.”
The arguments so far put forward by the legislators have betrayed the self-serving motives behind the bill. Melaye gleefully declared on the floor of the Senate that online media platform, Sahara Reporters, had been publishing false stories about him and his colleagues, a fact he insisted the lawmakers must not overlook. He continued his petulant campaign on Twitter on Sunday with a post which taunted the promoter of the medium with a long jail term. Describing her own frustration, Biodun Olujimi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from Ekiti State said she had to exit all social media platforms “because of these problems”.
What a difference a change of fortunes have made. Melaye who milked the social media for all it was worth in his campaign against former President Goodluck Jonathan has suddenly realised that “this senate should not be quiet about it.” Did he imagine that all the lurid images of flashy cars, mansion and boat rides he once celebrated on social media will be deleted from people’s mental hard drive?
This is definitely not a campaign against the abuse of social media, which is bad enough in itself. It is a badly scripted attempt at cowing a vibrant community from expressing concern and disgust at the state of affairs in the country. It is as ill-fitting as the jacket Na’Allah wore in that popular online image.
In the words of the NGE, Senators, like all Nigerians, “have a right both individually and collectively to express their concerns about the abuse of the cyberspace by unscrupulous people and organisations.” What they owe the people who voted them in is to consolidate or strengthen the existing laws and enforce implementation. They should not restrain access to information to protect politicians and other high ranking individuals who do not want to be held accountable for their actions.
Like the omo wobes in the popular ‘Shakiti Bobo’ song by Olamide, our senators seem to be high on something. And it is definitely not good for their health and ours.
Is the sheriff still in town?
Perhaps the question should be is the sheriff back in town.
Whatever happened to all the Daura wonder witnessed in the early days of the Muhammadu Buhari presidency? In celebrating the first 100 days of the new administration, Nigerians were told about a new attitude and efficiency in government. All of a sudden, electricity became relatively steady, fuel queues disappeared, pipelines were no longer vandalised and refineries began spitting out fuel.
All that was ascribed to the fact that a new sheriff was in town.
How we made fun of generator merchants! Generators became backup and public electricity the main source of power supply. There was less noise and air pollution. I betta pass my neighbour became as cheap as a politician’s promise. They were almost going for a song.
Generator merchants were not the only ones who suddenly became orphans. People who had contracted shotgun weddings with fuel station attendants in the hope of getting petrol whenever there was scarcity got a decree absolute. With no generator to fuel constantly and the option of driving in and out of any gas station of your choice, you needed not give any attendant a second look.
Six months into the new order, images of frozen beer bottles have been replaced by those of spoilt food items. Generator merchants are back in full business. Several weeks of fuel scarcity have reduced motorists to grovelling suitors at the feet of fuel station owners and attendants. Faith in leadership has given way to despair.
I am not sure which part of town or the world the sheriff is as I write. One thing is for sure though: Body language, like good luck, is not enough to clean the Augean’s stable.
