‘You can’t gag Nigerians’, CUPP cautions FG against social media restrictions

Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has strongly opposed any plans by the Federal Government to restrict the freedom of speech of Nigerians by the Bola Tinubu administration, cautioning the government against what it called plans to stifle the free speech freely given by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.

CUPP gave this stand on Wednesday in a statement issued by its spokesperson, Comrade Mark Adebayo, in reaction to a recent statement by Femi Gbajabiamila, the Chief of Staff (COS) to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Gbajabiamila, a few days ago, said that social media had become a societal menace and must be regulated.

He said this while representing President Tinubu at the public presentation of a book, “Nigerian Public Discourse: The Interplay of Empirical Evidence and Hyperbole,” written by a former Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, in Lagos.

The coalition, while condemning the move, said any plan by whatever name it is called, to take away the rights of Nigerians to free speech would be stoutly resisted by Nigerians, describing such as an evil agenda.

CUPP said that it could not sit and watch a government that had taken food from the tables of Nigerians, security, education and jobs away from them by its very bad policies, vowing that was not going to happen as, according to it, Nigeria is not a banana republic.

“It has come to our attention the ignoble plans by the current administration to stifle or curtail or restrict or steal the right to free speech constitutionally guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended by its poorly veiled attempts to eventually deny Nigerians access to communication through the social media.

“By whatever name it is called, any plans to take away the rights of Nigerians to free speech will be stoutly resisted by Nigerians and the opposition will be a major force in resisting such an evil agenda.

“We cannot sit and watch a government that has taken food from the tables of Nigerians by its very bad policies, taken security away from them, taken peace from them, taken jobs from them, taken education from them due to mass poverty, taken health from them and now planning to take a fundamental right to freely interact via social media from them. That is not going to happen! Nigeria is not a banana republic and we won’t allow the APC to turn it into one,” the coalition said.

Speaking further, CUPP also condemns the recent arrests of Nigerians exercising their right to peaceful protest by security agents, maintaining that it would not allow any government, whether at the federal or state level, to take away the rights of Nigerians to freely exercise their fundamental and democratic rights as such would be resisted to the fullest with all the instruments allowed by law.

The coalition, while noting that Nigerians were currently experiencing unprecedented hardships, further vowed that all secret plans to restrict the freedom of speech of Nigerians by the All Progressives Congress (APC) – led administration must be stopped immediately.

CUPP, therefore, enjoined the government to rather find solutions to the myriads of socioeconomic challenges currently facing the country.

“We equally condemn the recent arrests of Nigerians exercising their right to peaceful protest by security agents. Nigerians are currently experiencing unprecedented hardships and have constitutionally guaranteed rights to peaceful protests and demand for good governance that has eluded them since the advent of the APC in 2015 till date.

“We will not allow any government, whether at the federal or state level to take away the rights of Nigerians to freely exercise their fundamental and democratic rights.

“It will be resisted to the fullest with all the instruments allowed by law. Any and all secret plans to restrict the freedom of speech of Nigerians by this administration must be stopped immediately. The government should rather find solutions to the myriads of socioeconomic challenges it brought on the country” the statement concluded.