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Civil Defamation Cannot Cure Hate Speech –Keyamo

December 23, 2019

Keyamo’s comments came after a report on Fulani herdsmen abducting passengers from an Owerri, Imo State-bound bus from Abuja went viral.

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Nigeria’s Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, said in a post on Twitter that Nigeria’s law on civil defamation was an insufficient punishment for hate speech.

Keyamo’s comments came after a report on Fulani herdsmen abducting passengers from an Owerri, Imo State-bound bus from Abuja went viral.

He said, “For those against regulation of social media, what should happen to this purveyor of totally fake news that can set a whole tribe against another?

“Can a civil suit for defamation cure this? Certainly not. There must be punishment for this type of behaviour, but not death penalty.”