THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE REST OF US - E. U. Akpanukoh Esq.

Hey pals, it is very nice to have you back here reading from me. Hope you missed me just like I missed you. Welcome back from the Eid celebrations and holidays and I hope you’ve been handling well the different bad news plaguing the world and Nigeria in particular. I tell you what? It is one of such bad news that particularly seduced my interest to handle this branch of the discussion on Freedom of expression. I’ll let you in on this as we go on, but for now let’s dive in headfirst.

Sooo last week oga de law, Edim Edim esq introduced us to the right to freedom of expression. Maybe I should move on with the mindset that everyone has read that lovely piece? Absolutely not. For the sake of the proper Nigerians who did not read it, I’ll do a brief re-cap on what the right to freedom of expression entails. Read Edim's article here. The Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria in section 39(1) provides that every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including the freedom to hold opinions, receive and impart ideas and information without interference. This is exactly where your right to talk and share ideas emanate from. In fact, this right is so important that the press also derive their rights from this section. In this our Nigeria, there is no express provision for freedom of the press; that freedom is derived from the right to freedom of expression. 

The media, which is the plural form of the word medium, refers to the vehicles or channels which are used to convey information, entertainment, news, education or promotional messages. There are different classes or types of media such as indigenous media which relates to the system of communication of ancient people (drums, gongs, etc); traditional media which involves the print and broadcast (radio and television); and social media which can be seen as an advancement beyond the other types of media in terms of usage and its main component is the internet. Also, it covers platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Blogs, Emails, Instagram et cetera. Sorry for that long expose and thank you for staying on. We will now concentrate on the last form of media; “social media” and its relationship with the freedom of expression.  

As at the third quarter of 2020, the number of social media users in Nigeria reached roughly 28 million. See source.  Consequently, any discussion on the social media is very important. More so, we wouldn’t want to overburden ourselves with the importance of social media, because the media as a whole, is very important. In any modern democracy, it practically functions as a 4th arm of government acting to check and balance the excesses of the other arms of government. One cannot forget so easily how the social media was harnessed successfully to organize the #EndSars protest and how the same social media made it harder for the Nigeria Government to cover up and/or deny culpability in the Lekki Toll Gate Massacre or what exactly it is that happened there (because I was not there and nothing has been proven yet), but perhaps no better illustration can drive home the importance of the social media than the current unfortunate case of one Iniobong Umoren, an Akwa Ibomite who met her rape and gruesome death while job hunting. The social media sensationalized the matter, putting relevant government agencies under fire until her killer (I can now boldly call him the killer because of his own confessional statement which I watched on live TV, yet another way the media helps to unravel cases and make the society a safer place) was arrested and is currently cooling off his heels in police detention. The positive and negative activism across social media during this case is what actually seduced me into handling this topic.  

In light of the above, we now appreciate the reason the government is always attempting to gag the media with wanton arrests, detention/kidnapping of journalists and even the introduction of the social media bill and the hate speech bill. Brethren, in so far as any attempts by the government to control and censor the media should be frowned at, I am here to tell you that we sef we de mess up sometimes, with the following points of mine:

Fake news: this is really becoming a big issue in Nigeria and with this, we give the government a cloak with which to hide under and gag the media. Still on the Inionong murder case, just few days back, reports on the social media indicated that the chief suspect Uduak Frank had committed suicide in his cell. They even went ahead to tell us the method and time of suicide; that is using his trousers to hang himself from one of the metal frame of his cell door in the morning. See source.  This was voraciously shared across social media until of course it was proven fake when the police paraded him (alive) in front of the media. See source. The big question is; who started the rumor and what is your level of culpability for sharing such fake news? How many of us have not shared the idea that the President of Nigeria has long been dead? Do you have his death certificate as proof? How many of you didn’t share election results which eventually turned out to be false? imagine the outcry of people when they heard that the chief suspect had committed suicide, what if it sparked a protest? It is fake reports of election victory and rigging which usually causes post electoral violence and the unnecessary and unquantifiable destruction of lives and properties. Consequently, Fake news is a cankerworm and will always cause more harm than good. 

Hate Speech: Hate speech is any speech that is threatening, abusive, insulting or involves the use of such words in order to stir up ethnic hatred or from which ethnic hatred is likely to be stirred up against such person. So I ask you, how many times have you used your private social media space to insult or abuse another ethnic group? Maybe a small “illiterate aboki cattle keepers” here and another small “dirty Yoruba betrayers” there? Nigeria is bound together on a very thin thread and could be severed hundreds of ways in milliseconds. We must avoid all cheap talks that can stoke the flame of ethnicity and religious fanatism. 

Cyberbullying/Cyberstalking; This has been defined as the “process of using the internet, cell phones or other devices to send or post text or images intended to hurt or embarrass another person.” See Adejoke Adediran; Cyberbullying in Nigeria: examining the adequacy of legal responses There is a Cybercrimes Act enforceable in Nigeria. Therefore I’ll have you know  that the transmission of any communication through the means of a computer to bully, threaten or harass another person where such communication places another person in fear of death, violence or bodily harm amounts to cyber stalking. Now take a time out and read that again, read it slowly this time and reflect upon how common and normal it has become for people to harass and threaten others in the comments section of a Facebook post and other social media. Perhaps you are even a culprit. See ehnnn, many people do not see all you say on social media as cruise. Some are genuinely hurt, and others even commit suicide because of cyberbullying. Please stop it immediately.

Defamation and Sedition: Already, Edim told you that your right to own a walking stick ends where another person’s right to a nose starts. So, you cannot use your walking stick in a way that will damage another person’s nose. Your right to talk freely covered under your right to freedom of expression ends immediately where my right to an unstained reputation begins. If you call me a thief, be ready to prove that I am indeed a thief. You cannot just go on a tirade in the online space dragging another person’s reputation in the mud. Like it is said, there is no property as costly as the image of a man, his self-worth. So be careful when next you post a picture of a person and tag it #fraudster, #yahooboy #corruptman, for he who alleges the existence of a thing must indeed prove the existence of that thing. The burden of proof will be on you. Beware. More so, Sedition is any conduct or speech which incites people to rebel against the authority of the state. This one is also a crime and God forbid that it is fake news you used to incite people, double wahala for you. Better beware what you are posting on that bird app. 

Media Trial: The Indian supreme court defined media trial as ‘the impact of the television and newspaper coverage on a person’s reputation by creating a widespread perception of guilt regardless of any verdict in a court of law”. Nabil Ahsan: Media Trials undermine the presumption of innocence. How many of you remember Patricia Ette? Yea, that one-time Speaker of the Nigerian house of representatives who stole money! Except that the media never told you that she was acquitted of all corruption charges, went to the law school and eventually became a lawyer. YES! The media effectively tried and convicted her despite the decision of the court. How many of you remember those corrupt supreme court judges? Yes, the ones whose homes were raided, and millions of Naira/dollars found in Geepee tanks. Yes? Except that the media has also not told you that many of them were found not guilty and had since resumed sitting and dispensing the course of justice. The media had effectively tried and convicted them. I could go on and on with instances but for the sake of time. That is what is called media trial and it has many legal consequences: a) it kills the presumption of innocence which is a very important ingredient of fair hearing in Nigeria. b) It affects the mind of the judge in the dispensation of justice as he may be tempted and pressured to accept the verdict of the media trial and tailor his judgement in that direction. c) It could be a form of contempt of court where a publication is found insulting to the judge. My dear, stop convicting people on your WhatsApp status na? Stop making posts with captions such as “here is the killer”, “he is the rapist”, “he is guilty”, are you the court? Who gave you the power of adjudication? That person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. That is why the police use such terms as “the suspect”, “the accused”. “the alleged offender” and these are people directly handling the investigations, kpe whether you’re even wiser than them? Guy take time o!

We could actually do a thesis on this subject matter, but this is friendly blog so issokay like this, the ranting is okay.

Conclusively, few days ago, in an argument with my learned colleague Barr. Doris, I held the opinion that a person she called a rapist was indeed not one until a court had pronounced him as such. Consequent upon which my good friend attacked, mauled (verbally of course) and even cursed my sisters, and my unborn children, pronouncing that they must face the same circumstances of the allegations. I shared that story to let you know that me? I no dey fear anything. I will tell you the truth because you’re my person. You have the right to freedom of expression oo, the social media is good oo, the social media is very important oo, no arguments. But we are still getting a lot of things wrong. Each passing day, we proliferate fake news, bully others, convict and harass others on our social media handles. Please let’s try ehnnn, let’s not gift the government a shovel with which to dig our graves and bury us under media gagging laws. 

I am looking forward to having your comments, but don’t break any rules there eyeah? 

T for Tenks. 

ThePlaymaster wishes you well as always.