The National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, has criticized ex-Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode over his recent widely-circulated article titled: ‘The herdsmen from hell,’ where he described the suspected Fulani herdsmen, who recently kidnapped Chief Olu Falae as East African tse-tse fly, locust and leeches. The commission disclosed its intension to formally complain to the Police about the opinion write-up.
It would be recalled that in the contentious article, Fani-Kayode condemned the abduction of the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Falae, from his home-town, in Ondo State, by a group of Fulani herdsmen, stating that it was time to seriously consider the expulsion of all Fulani herdsmen from the southern part of Nigeria.
But angered by the former PDP presidential campaign spokesman’s article, Chairman of the NHRC, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu in a tweet via his official Twitter handle, @chairmanNHRC stressed that, even though Chief Falae’s abduction was a crime, to make that basis of a campaign against a race as done by Fani-Kayode is hate speech.
According to him, “Chief Olu Falae’s abduction is a crime, but to make that basis of a campaign against a race as Femi Fani-Kayode did is hate speech. It’s hate speech to leave individual responsibility and describe a race as tse-tse fly, locust, leeches, etc.
“It’s unlawful to advocate for mass removal of Nigerians from parts of their own country. That’s hate speech. Fani-Kayode was Minister in Nigeria responsible for civil aviation. He’s a senior lawyer. This article of his is a crime. I propose to formally complain to the Nigerian Police Force about this article. We should encourage free expression not hate speech.”
Comments