If someone uses his mouth to cause riot or talk people into killing many other people, and the court hears the case and is satisfied that he is responsible for the deaths of such people, what should be his punishment please???? Fine??? Or flogging???
There are varying degrees of punishments stipulated for varying degrees of hate speech offenses. Death penalty is only when the offense led to deaths.
The punishment for armed robbery is not death sentence. It can be 4 year jail term, 2 years jail term, 20 years jail term, life imprisonment. But when the said armed robbery led to killing of other humans, and it is proved, the convict faces death by hanging. Isn’t it normal?
Only yesterday the kidnappers of one Oba in Lagos were sentenced to death by hanging. Why? They killed two persons in the course of kidnapping the king, whom they released after N15 million had been paid. But the court took into account the security man and the Okada man they killed before whisking the king away.
In that same manner, the offense of hate speech attracts very light sentences that could pass as warning. But when the same offense is proved beyond reasonable doubt to have orchestrated the deaths of innocent Nigerians, the sentence becomes death. Isn’t it only normal?
