President Bola Tinubu has vowed to defend free speech and said that no Nigerians should be prosecuted for criticising him.
The President made this vow during his Democracy Day address at the complex of the National Assembly in Abuja on Thursday, June 12, 2025.
He said it’s normal for the citizens to criticise his policies and even call him names.
He, however, noting that “malicious slander and libel” should not be accepted, but insisted that the criticism of his policies should be tolerated.
“Do not be afraid to hear an unkind word spoken against you,” Tinubu said. “Some of the best advice a politician gets sometimes comes from his most ferocious opponents, if they think well, though.
“We do not seek silence because the imposed silence of repressed voices breeds chaos and ill will, not the harmonics of democracy in the long term.
“While malicious slander and libel should not go unattended, no one should bear the brunt of injustice for merely writing a bad report about me or calling me names.
“Democracy requires a fair degree of tolerance for harsh words and stinging insults.
“Call me any names. I’m not here to make you happy politically and I will still call upon democracy to defend your right to do so.”
The President called on lawmakers and his supporters to be tolenrabt and broad-minded and emphasised the need to “value dialogue over dictatorship, persuasion over suppression and rights over might”.
