A bill to prohibit frivolous petitions has entered the second reading stage at the Nigerian National Assembly.
The bill, sponsored by Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah (APC Kebbi South) seeks to prevent false petitions against public officials.
Public outcry against the bill has begun, with claims that the bills seeks to gag social media.
Section 4 of the Bill states: “Where any person through text message, tweets, WhatsApp or through any social media, post any abusive statement knowing same to be false, with intent to set the public against any person and/or group of persons, an institution of government or such other bodies established by law shall be guilty of an offence and upon conviction shall be liable to an imprisonment for two years or a fine of N2 million or both such fine and imprisonment.”