NHRC wants Sheikh Jingir arrested for hate speech. Good or bad move?

The National Human Rights Commission has called for the arrest and prosecution of Sheikh Sani Yahaya Jingir over a viral video where he allegedly called people of other faiths 'infidels' and urged his followers to get their PVCs to 'show their limit'. Executive Secretary Chief Tony Ojukwu made this demand yesterday, and honestly, this is one of those moments where I have to pause and think.

On one hand, I am a firm believer in freedom of speech. But freedom is not the same as licence. When a man of his influence starts framing elections as a religious contest, he is not preaching, he is lighting a match near a fuel tank. We have seen what religious violence does in this country, from Kano to Kaduna to Jos. Ojukwu put it well when he said, 'We cannot afford to look away. If we fail to speak and act now, we embolden both Christian and Muslim clerics and other influential persons to make worse statements in the coming months. That path leads only to crisis.'

Some people will say the NHRC is being used to silence a northern voice ahead of 2027. Let them argue that. But I ask you, if a Christian pastor had said the same thing about Muslims, would we be debating whether it was hate speech? The law must apply equally, or it applies not at all. So be honest, is this protection of democracy or persecution of religion?