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NANS Reacts To Bill To Criminalise Protest
- The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has reacted to a bill to criminalise protests in the country.
EKO HOT BLOG reports that the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has rejected the bill before the National Assembly to criminalise protest and civil disobedience in the country.
The bill was allegedly sponsored by a member of the House of Representatives, Emeka Martins Chienedu (PDP, Imo).
However, the NANS President, Asefon Sunday, while reacting via a statement on Friday night, said it was a direct assault on the very tenant of democracy and the most fundamental freedom of citizens.
He said, “This evil bill is a direct attempt to return our nation to a dictatorship where the citizens lack the right to protest and dissent. This bill will not and must not be passed.
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“Now that this bill is on the table, we will use the only instrument of dissent that our leaders and representatives understand which is a protest to frustrate its passage,” the NANS President stated.
Asefon added that the bill was not only ridiculous but unnecessary at a time elected representatives should concentrate on how to further enshrine and extend the frontier of democracy and freedom to dissent.
The NANS President further stressed that protests and dissent in any developing democracy is a right of citizens, adding that lawmakers should rather concentrate on sponsoring bills that will mandate security personnel to provide security to protesters to ensure protests are not hijacked by hoodlums.
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