After the expression, what’s next?

Arrest? Jail time? Kidnap? Torture? Death threat? Or even worse, death?

There is a section of the Nigerian constitution that states that citizens have the right to freedom of expression, including airing or holding opinions without interference, so I learnt in primary school in my social studies classes.

One gloomy morning, a newscaster on NTA channel on our black and white television announced the death of a popular journalist and editor, Dele Giwa, my grandfather narrated. Many people suspected he died because he wrote too many things that the government found offensive, but who dared air any opinion about his death?

Freedom of the press or media is the right to freedom of expression and communication through published materials and the internet, but the rights of civilians in the media continue to be trampled upon.

For many years now, attacks on individuals, activists and journalists are rampant, especially when they air their opinions on sensitive issues like corruption, elections or general issues relating to the government. Except you freely expressed how good a government is, most times, people that talk about sensitive issues are tailed, criminalized, arrested, harassed, kidnapped, and tortured.

Often, I’ve logged in to twitter to see many hashtags seeking the release of people who had harmlessly expressed themselves, but they end up getting harassed and arrested for cyberstalking, cyberbullying, hate speech or even worse crimes that could give them a long stay in the prison.

Some months ago, a pregnant woman harmlessly aired her opinion on the internet on a particular product that could be harmful to the consumers, thinking she was trying to save many people from falling victim of using products that could be detrimental to their health, and also call the attention of the company to effect a change in the product, but what happened next? She got arrested, charged, and is currently facing a jail term of up to seven years. Only the powerful have the ability and the right to fully express their opinions without the fear of getting arrested in my dear country.

In 2020, during the End Sars protest, a protest that escalated to the streets so fast after a period of related posts and hashtags on many social media platforms, we were with our placards and cardboards, rest assured we were getting there to air our opinions and leave in on piece, but the comment from a guy struck me. He said, “freedom of expression exists in the Nigerian constitution truly, but your safety after the expression is not guaranteed”. Right there and then, I lost the zeal to carry on with the protest because I could be harmed for saying something that the government finds offensive even though it was just to call his attention to the brutality we were facing in the state as youths and the many infrastructures the state was lacking.

Although, I’m not against the arrest and prosecution of people that wrote hate speech or fake news about the government on the ‘net’, I am just in support of the motion that the government should protect, respect, and fulfil the right to freedom of expression of the citizens and the media since we do not have access to even our local government representatives to air our opinions anyway.

This is my entry for the #mayinleo prompt for today. You can check the details here.
https://inleo.io/threads/view/leogrowth/re-leothreads-2ejda7ayf

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