The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, has withdrawn the contentious Counter Subversion Bill, which proposed a 10-year prison sentence, a fine of N5 million, or both, for Nigerians who refuse to recite the national anthem.<\/p>\n
The withdrawal comes after widespread outrage and strong opposition to the bill, which many criticized as draconian and anti-democratic. The bill, which had been sponsored by Speaker Abbas, was set for its second reading, where its general principles were to be debated.<\/p>\n
The proposed legislation outlined severe penalties for various actions, including the destruction of national symbols, refusal to recite the national anthem and pledge, and defacing places of worship with the intent to incite violence or undermine the Federal Government. It also included punishments for setting up illegal roadblocks, performing unauthorized traffic duties, imposing illegal curfews, and organizing unlawful processions. The penalties ranged from fines of N2 million to N5 million and prison sentences of up to 10 years.<\/p>\n
However, in response to the public outcry, Speaker Abbas announced the withdrawal of the bill in a statement issued on Wednesday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Musa Abdullahi Krishi.<\/p>\n
“In response to the voices and concerns of the people, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, Ph.D., has decided to withdraw the Counter Subversion Bill and other related draft legislation,” the statement read. “This decision follows his extensive consultations with a broad range of stakeholders and a careful consideration of the nation’s current circumstances.”<\/p>\n
The statement emphasized Speaker Abbas’s commitment to listening to the citizens and fostering unity, reflecting his dedication to ensuring that the House of Representatives remains “the People’s House.” He acknowledged the significance of the concerns raised and reaffirmed that he would never support any action that might disrupt the peace and unity of the nation.<\/p>\n
The public was formally notified of the withdrawal of the Counter Subversion Bill and other related legislation introduced on July 23, 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, has withdrawn the contentious Counter Subversion Bill, which proposed a 10-year prison sentence, a fine of N5 million, or both, for Nigerians who refuse to recite the national anthem. The withdrawal comes after widespread outrage and strong opposition to the bill, which many criticized as draconian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":43486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-43479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43479"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43490,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43479\/revisions\/43490"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}