The Senate President, Bukola Saraki has said that no amount of criticisms and intimidation will make the upper house abandon the proposed social media bill.
Saraki said this while speaking yesterday, when Senator Dino Melaye, APC, Kogi West, raised the issue under matters of urgent importance.
He insisted that Senate cannot be intimidated to drop the bill, because people must be held responsible for their actions.
Senator Melaye also commented on the growing unlawful activities of social media users in the country.
He said “If there are no measures put in place, this particular SaharaReporters and others have the capacity to drag democracy into crisis because they have become very reclkless.
“They make laborious statements that have no content of fact at all and because of the Nigeria’s perception it is very important that we check their activities.
“While I celebrate the social media as major actors, this Senate should not be blackmailed or cowed because of the social media. You will read time innumerable, SaharaReporters casting aspersion on the integrity of the Senate. The Senate is a sacred hallowed chamber.
“The bill moved yesterday on frivolous petitions have been misconstrued by this same people and this Senate should not keep quiet because this can have a negative effect on the Nation.This SaharaReporters have commercialized their consciences and moneytised their operations and are now tools being used against perceived political enemies.
“SaharaReporters operate from New York and this Senate must write the US government to draw their attention to the clandestine operations of SaharaReporters.”
Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, also added that “It is not only SaharaReporters; you have the privilege where people just wake up because of the advancement in ICT and start writing whatever without being held responsible.”
He recalled when he was accused by an online magazine of importing 400 golf cars for Boko Haram insurgents.
He said “We are a law making body and we have a responsibility to make laws that hold people responsible for actions that they take. People should not just publicize anything without being held responsible.”
Senator Biodun Olujimi, PDP, Ekiti South also added that although the social media has benefitted Nigeria a great deal, their excesses was becoming a challenge.
She said “The major problem have been the people who do not have any laid down rule as to what to do on the social media and they call themselves pressmen.
“I have been a journalist all my life and the major and important tenet of that profession is that you must be fair to all concerned.But on this issue of social media, nobody is fair too anybody; in fact I have read stories about myself where I never participated in anything that was reported.
“They used the social media as a medium to castigate anybody that was in politics and anyone that was in the ruling party.
“It was our turn the last time and now it is the turn of the ruling party; that is the way it has been, when you are in office they must have something against you.
“But the most annoying one is castigating the entire Senate and bringing it to disrepute, we must be able too fight that and we must look at the laws and do something concrete.
“We must go to court against those people, we must get judgment and we must make a scapegoat of some of these so that outside there they will know it is not business as usual.“