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Ondo state governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, on Monday opposed the\nproposed death penalty for hate speech offenders in the country. Ondo state governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, on Monday opposed the proposed death penalty for hate speech offenders in the country. He compared the penalty to sentencing someone who steals N10,000 to death and freeing another that steals N1million. Governor Akeredolu disclosed this in Ilorin, Kwara state at the opening ceremony of the sixth biennial international conference […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[14,10],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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\nHe compared the penalty to sentencing someone who steals N10,000 to death and\nfreeing another that steals N1million.
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\nGovernor Akeredolu disclosed this in Ilorin, Kwara state at the opening\nceremony of the sixth biennial international conference of the University of\nIlorin Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies department.
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\nSpeaking on the theme: \u201cDomesticating Sustainable Development Goal 16 in\nNigeria: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions,\u201d
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\nThe governor said, \u201cHow can somebody steal N10,000 and be sentenced to\ndeath, when another person who stole or embezzled N1m is allowed to go scot\nfree. “when I was the president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), I\nvehemently opposed capital punishment for condemned criminals. I will be a\nturncoat as governor to now support death penalty for hate-speech offenders.\u201d
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\nHe added: \u201cAs the governor of Ondo state, I will not commit to death those\ncondemned criminals; instead, I will look into how to commute their sentences\nto life imprisonment. Or I will transfer them to other administrations.\u201d
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\nHe regretted that there is no virile opposition in the country, adding that\n\u201cevery other person who was in opposition in 2015 has now crossed over to the\nruling All Progressives Congress (APC). I am amused if I see them decamping in\ndroves to the APC.\u201d
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\nThe former NBA president added that injustice, either real or imagined, has\nbeen responsible for the absence of peace in Nigeria.
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\nHe said \u201cAny discussion on justice which leaves out the deplorable conditions\nof the people is self-serving; it is patently unjust to have the mass of the\npeople depend on handouts from the political class having lost the capacity to\ncontribute to the development of the polity.
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\n\u201cUntil and unless the identifiable geo-political zones are encouraged to\nrealize their potentials with a view to participating actively in the economic\nactivities for growth and prosperity, there will be no end to crises.
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\n\u201cCurrent measures put in place seem insufficient to rescues the country from\nsocio-economic doldrums.
\nTherefore, the preponderance of conflicts in virtually all parts of the country\nseems to suggest failure of the system. Working at these manifest lapses will\nassist greatly.
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\n\u201cInstitutions of state must be self-regulating. The basic law of the land, the\nConstitution, and relevant subsidiary legislations must be the instruments\nwhich determine the life and functions of any institution created to take care\nof the welfare of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"