Niger State Government has cautioned political, religious community and opinion leaders as well as their followers against hate speech and dangerous comments that are capable of infringing on the relative peace and tranquillity of the state.
The state government noted that one major thing that sparks off crisis was the use of inflammatory utterances and urged them to desist forthwith.
“Hate speech by ill-informed, self-centred people on both traditional and new platforms of communication is poisonous to our society.”
Government said it would no longer tolerate politically or religiously orchestrated comments, from any quarter, that tends to incite the people against themselves.
It warned that any individual or group caught making such venomous utterances capable of igniting conflict in the state would be made to face the wrath of the law.
“Niger State has always enjoyed relative peace and its’ people have lived in and demonstrated harmonious coexistence, therefore nobody, irrespective of socio-political leaning, should create discord and political divide among the people in order to gain political advantage over others”.
Rather than capitalize on the frailty of human nature or vulnerability of the people, and inciting them for primordial gains, political and religious leaders must dwell on issues that tend to engender peaceful coexistence.
The government appreciated the efforts of security operatives who have remained ever proactive in addressing security challenges in the state and solicited support of all stakeholders in correcting the trend.
