Hate Speech Bill is Dead, Says Bishop David Oyedepo

The Presiding Bishop of Living Faith Church Worldwide , Bishop David Oyedepo, has said the controversial hate speech bill being considered by the Senate is dead .

Oyedepo said the sponsor of the bill did not propose death penalty for killers of innocent people in the country but was targeting those who might criticise the government with the bill .

He spoke on Tuesday night at the opening ceremony of Shiloh 2019 , an annual event of the church which entered the 21 st edition .

Oyedepo said nobody could gag him because he is a prophet and he is only answerable to God .
He said , “ Hate speech is one of the craziest ideas. You want to hang somebody for telling you the truth . The roads are bad and you say that is hate speech.

“ You can silence everybody but not a prophet. A prophet is answerable only to God. What God tells him to say , he says.

“ Are we going forward or backward as a nation ? Are the roads better now than before? So, why are you not talking ?

“ I don ’t know if anybody loves this country more than I do . I love this nation with passion. I called for a prayer and fast for God’ s intervention to keep this nation at peace in 1979 . That was the first time I did that .”

The bishop said no matter who was backing the killers on the rampage in the country , they would not escape the wrath of God.

According to him , killings and corruption which should be tackled with all seriousness are not considered to be problems by those behind the bill .
“ Let hands be joined together , the wicked will not go unpunished . They are not hanging killers , they want to hang those talking .

“ Anyway , that ( the bill ) is dead already. If the wicked will not stop his wickedness , God will stop the wickedness of the wicked . ”

It was announced that over 6 ,000 delegates from 35 nations were registered to be part of the programme as at Sunday , saying many more were being expected to participate in the event which would end on Saturday .

Ghana recorded the highest number of delegates so far with over 4 ,000 worshipers already at the Canaanland while delegates had arrived from Australia , the UAE , Togo , the United States , Canada and the United Kingdom.

The bishop said while so many Nigerians were seeking to travel out of the country , the Church of Christ was populating the country bringing people from many nations to Nigeria .