By Abiola Olawale
The Director of the Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts, Sam Amadi, has written to the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun seeking the probe of a pro-lagos social media account identified as Lagospedia.
Amadi, a former Chief Executive of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), accused the account of spreading hate against the Igbos.
Amadi in a petition dated July 31, 2024, pointed out that an X (formerly Twitter) handle @Lagospedia, a page claiming to be “proclaiming the virtues of Lagos”, is gaining notoriety for publishing hate comments against the Igbo ethnic group and, most recently, asking them to be pushed out of the southwest.
He emphasised that the comments of the social media handle are a call that violates Section 41, Subsection 1 of the Nigerian Constitution, which states: “Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof, and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from Nigeria or refused entry thereby or exit therefrom.”
It would be recalled that Lagospedia, on July 27, tweeted a call for the Yoruba in Nigeria’s southwest to march in protest against Igbos residing in the region.
“Lagosians and every Southwest stakeholder should prepare for the massive protest of #IgboMustGo on the 20th – 30th of August,” Lagospedia tweeted.
Reacting, Amadi called on Egbetokun to look into the matter and unmask the face behind the account so the individual can be made to face prosecution of the offenders.
A part of the petition reads: “This petition seeks the intervention of the Nigerian Police Force through its anti-cybercrime unit to investigate, arrest and prosecute the offender herein listed. This petition is based on the provisions of the 1999 Constitution, the Criminal Code and the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act 2024.
“On July 27, 2024, the person behind the popular Twitter handle @lagospedia posted the following statements on his handle:
“Logosians and every Southwest stakeholder should prepare for the massive protest of #Igbomustgo on the 20th- 30th of August. They have 1 month from now to leave and relocate their business from all S’west states. We urge all Yoruba living in the S’east to return home”
“The express intention of the posts is to instigate and mobilize mass violence against Igbo people for just being Igbo. @Lagospedia is not alleging any specific misconduct against the Igbos in Lagos and the Southwest region of Nigeria. Their only offence is being Igbo, and the solution is to drive them out of a region of Nigeria.
“The call for forceful eviction of Igbos in Lagos and Southwest States is a fragrant attack and violation of Section 41 of the 1999 Constitution which guarantees that “Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof, and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from Nigeria or refused entry thereby or exit therefrom”. Although the owner of the handle, @Lagospedia, is not a state actor, and his or her actions do not amount to state action, his or her statements are a direct call for violation of the constitution. He is asking Nigerians to violently deprive other Nigerians of a particular ethnic origin of their constitutionally guaranteed right of citizenship. Taking such direct action to procure violation of a constitutionally guaranteed right is an unconstitutional act that should trigger legal prosecution.”
