By Dan Ekah
Sokoto State Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal on Thursday called for nation-wide campaign against the passage of the hate speech bill before the National Assembly.
Declaring open the 15th All Nigeria Editors conference in Sokoto, Governor Tambuwal said such draconian law has no place in a democratic setting like Nigeria.
“we cannot operate democracy like a military dictatorship. The storm against democracy is gathering and we must all gear up to protest it” He said.
He regretted that laws are being obeyed more in the breach in Nigeria saying the latest move that has shocked all Nigerians is the hate speech bill which prescribes death penalty.
In a keynote presentation, the Editor in chief of Vanguard Nespaper and former President of the Guild of Editor, Mr. Gbenga Adefaye noted that at no time has the media in Nigeria been in distress than now.
He said quite a number of journalists and non-journalists are already in detention as a result of new assaults against free speech and called for their release.