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The attention of the Integrity Youth Alliance has been drawn to a tweet by Omoyele Sowore that says, “The PPRO of @PoliceNG Muyiwa Adejobi @Princemoye1 personally ordered the arrest of Olamide for her posts against police excesses in a WhatsApp group and on @facebook; this is completely unacceptable and will be resisted. The @PoliceNG must release her immediately.”
According to a press release on Saturday, 14th December 2024, signed by the National Secretary of the Alliance, Danjuma Lamido, Nigerians and the likes of Omoyele Sowore should know that bullies may face criminal charges when bullying involves assaults.
“As the internet has become a new platform for misconduct, in that communications via the internet can be used to threaten, harass, intimidate, and cause harm to others, those engaged in it must face the law, Lamido said.
“Cyberbullying, simply put, is bullying that occurs online. It is the persistent and deliberate harassment that causes harm to the targeted individual.
“The Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act 2015 of Nigeria says any course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear. Accordingly, sending any form of communication through a computer to intimidate, threaten, or harass another individual in a way that instils fear of death, violence, or physical harm constitutes cyberstalking.
“We recently watched a video on Facebook where one Olamide Abiodun Thomas was raining causes on Seyi Tinubu, Muyiwa Adejobi, and Kayode Egbetokun (https://www.facebook.com/share/v/nmsLHrq6vip9N2np/). This is completely uncalled for and cyberbullying.
“Adejobi and those mentioned in the video are victims of cyberbullying, and they have taken the right steps to report the incident to the appropriate authorities to prevent future occurrences.
“We have discovered that the majority of those who experience cyberbullying do not report it, and if we are to succeed in preventing bullying, we need to break the silence in which it thrives by empowering people to speak out and seek help.
“Section 24 of the Act provides that any person who knowingly or intentionally sends a message or other matter using computer systems or networks that is: (a)Grossly offensive, pornographic, or of an indecent, obscene, or menacing character or causes any such message or matter to be so sent; or (b)He knows to be false, to cause annoyance inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, ill will or needless anxiety to another or causes such a message to be sent commits an offense under this Act and shall be liable on conviction to a fine of not more than ₦7,000,000.00 or imprisonment for a term of not more than 3 years or to both such fine and imprisonment.
“The Act further states by Section 24(2) that any person who intentionally transmits any communication through a computer system to bully, threaten, or harass another person, where such communication places another person in fear of death, violence, or bodily harm, or to another person, commits an offence under the Act and shall be liable on conviction to 10 years and for a minimum fine of ₦25,000,000.00 (Twenty-Five Million Naira).
“Olamide Abiodun Thomas must face the law and stop misleading Nigerians by saying she was arrested for criticising ACP Adejobi’s excesses.
“Olamide Abiodun Thomas had, in November, lied to Sahara Reporters that she hadn’t committed any crime other than participating in the #EndSars memorial struggle held on October 20, 2024, during which she was brutalised, her money stolen in police custody, and her phone destroyed.
“She was arrested for bullying prominent Nigerians, as the video above is very clear for all to watch and listen to.
“She was not arrested for always condemning police “brutality, as thousands of Nigerians do, criticising posts or comments by the Force PRO, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, and none of them were arrested to date.
“Olamide Abiodun Thomas is just “grasping at straws, forgetting that her online video is a bullying and offence under the law, the statement concluded.
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