The acting president, Yemi Osinbajo, on Wednesday warned against hate speech, capable of overheating the polity and threatening national security.
Mr Osinbajogave the warning when he met with the 36 governors at the Old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The acting president noted that the constitution, which guaranteed freedom of expressions, said that it must be done in a decent way.
He stated further that the constitution guaranteed all Nigerians to live in any part of the country without molestation, just as he cautioned people talking carelessly in a way that would threaten the unity of the country.
“There is a part of all of these agitations and statements that are made that is fair and may well be considered as freedom of expression.
“Clearly, we are all allowed to express our views and there is a part of this that is expected in any healthy and robust democracy, people arguing and disagreeing sometimes even silently.
“But borderline has to be drawn and that is when conversations or agitations degenerate into hateful rhetoric where the narratives degenerate to pejorative name-calling, expressions of outright prejudice and hatred.
“We must sometimes ensure that even in the use of words, we are careful essentially because the kinds of problems that we have seen, the kinds of conflagration that we have seen all over the world even in our own society…..the use of words.
“Some words can carry a lot of weights and so important that responsible use of words, the responsible expression of dissent is taken as priority,” he said.
