The member representing Ahiazu Mbaise and Ehinihitte Mbaise Federal Constituency of Imo State, Emeka Chinedu has said that he didn’t sponsor a bill criminalising protests in the country. The lawmaker who spoke to The PUNCH on Wednesday said that the bill which he sponsored, that scaled first reading and was getting widespread condemnation, only condemned mob action, not protesters. Chinedu said as a product of democracy he would not sponsor any bill that would criminalise protests and protesters. “It is deserving to state unequivocally that in all these, I never prescribed a penalty for offenders since the penalties were already enshrined. Rather, mob action was copiously given the definition that was not clearly captured ab initio.

Source: Punch July 07, 2021 15:11 UTC