By Olayinka Latona

AS Nigerians braze up for the 2023 general election, a coalition of civil society organisations had expressed concern over the looming threat to free, fair and credible elections come 2023 in Nigeria.

This was contained in a statement signed by the Centre for Advancement of Civil Liberties and Development, also known as Centre for Liberty, CFL and Corporate Accountability & Public Participation Africa, at the just concluded workshop cum press conference on digital freedom and freedom of expression in Nigeria.

The group also lamented that civic space in Nigeria is shrinking, and the threats to freedom of expression and digital freedom are increasing daily.

The group said that since 2015, the fundamental rights of Nigerians to freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of association have come under consistent and increasing threats.

The statement reads: “Through the legislature, the Cybercrimes Act of 2015 was proposed and eventually signed into law. The legislature, again, was used to push the Prohibit Frivolous Petitions and Other Related Matters Bill, also known as the Anti-Social Media Bill 2015, which Nigerians heavily rejected and eventually got withdrawn.

“In 2017, the Nigerian Army declared the surveillance of social media platforms with taxpayers’ money, followed by the Ministry of Culture and Information literally declaring war on social media.

“Since these announcements, the Department of State Services and Nigeria Police Force have arrested and jailed several activists and invaded several media houses”

Continuing: “The Federal government has also temporarily blocked access to some websites and social media platforms, including recently, Twitter which remains blocked today.

“We also recall the Reviewed Broadcasting Code that mandates the payment of Five Million Naira Fine for media organizations deemed guilty of promoting hate speech by the government and entered into force in 2020.

“This draconian piece of regulation has been used in gagging several media organisations, and consequently, it has caused the intimidation of many other media organizations in the Fourth Estate”.

They however urge political parties and politicians to commit to promoting freedom of expression and protecting the civic space in 2023.