The controversy started on Wednesday
night. And in the early hours of
Thursday, the bloggers’ message was
clear, summarised in a single hashtag –
#NoToSocialMediaBill.
As of 9am on Thursday, the hashtag had
pooled over 15,000 tweets. This does
not include the Facebook mentions and
other blog posts. Perhaps, it is the top
Nigeria’s Twitter trend subject of the
week.
#NoToSocialMediaBill is protesting a bill
that is reportedly seeking to regulate
the activities of Nigerians on social
media.
Reports said the document was being
deliberated upon at the Senate before it
triggered a Twitter war between Ben
Murray-Bruce, a senator from Bayelsa
State, and Sahara Reporters, an online
media, on Wednesday night.
The media organisation accused Murray-
Bruce of hypocrisy, saying it should have
alerted the public of the bill, which it
claimed had passed second reading. It
also said it was “bad” that the senator
claimed to be on the side of the masses
while at the same time he was
supporting a bill aimed at restraining
freedom of expression.
According to its online report, Murray-
Bruce helped to push the bill to second
reading.
But the senator described the claims
against him as a lie. He said he only
heard about the bill on Wednesday, and
that he would never vote for a bill that
subverts “free speech.”
He tweeted, “I don’t know the
intention behind Sahara Reporters’
story; but there was no voting on the
alleged bill and I never participated in
it.
“I can only call on Sahara Reporters to
investigate and be responsible before
making false allegations against me or
on anyone for that matter.
“How Sahara Reporters or anybody, for
that matter, would try to pin a bill that I
didn’t vote for or help to draft on me
beats my imagination. I believe in free
speech, which I have promoted as a
media owner and it is very sad that it
chose to publish such untruth.”
The online media had earlier tweeted,
“Nigerian senators plot to send social
media users to jail for two years if
government deems a social media post
or petition false.”
Amid the online war over the bill, which
was proposed by Bala Na’Allah, a
senator representing Kebbi South, social
media activists have also moved into
action, rejecting any proposal to
regulate them.
Leading the call on Wednesday, Japheth
Omojuwa, a popular blogger, tweeted,
“Everyone who values his or her right
must express a resounding
#NoToSocialMediaBill.”
Also tweeting, Kemi Omololu-Olunloyo,
a daughter of a former governor of Oyo
State, warned against any law that
would gag social media, saying she
earned living from online posting.
A blog post calling for a support to recall
Na’Allah, was also being circulated on
Thursday. Many social media enthusiasts
vowed to support the proposal, which
was moved by a group in the senator’s
constituency in September.
Members of the online community,
across the country, had recently
protested the call on them by the
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai
Mohammed, to imbibe self-regulation to
avoid “self-destruction”.
At an interactive meeting with bloggers,
Mohammed said, “There is enormous
power at your fingertips, and no one can
ignore you. Such is the prodigious
power in your hands that it becomes
imperative for you Nigerian bloggers to
allow some measure of responsibility
and restraint in exercising such power.
“What I am saying in essence is that you
must self-regulate in order not to self-
destroy yourself. Self-regulation allows
you to weed out the charlatans among
you in order to maintain your credibility
and ensure your survival.
“We are not about to regulate or stultify
the social media. This explains why we
are asking you, Nigerian bloggers, to
self-regulate. That is why we are
encouraging you to rein in the impostors
among you and show restraint when
dealing with issues of national unity,
issues of Nigeria’s sovereignty.”
A section of the community disagreed
with the minister, urging him to avoid
the temptation of going after them. The
Internet, they said, was an open
resource where individuals were free to
share their concerns uncensored.
