BY Jemilat Nasiru
Kenechukwu Okeke, a human rights activist, has filed criminal proceedings before a magistrate court in Abuja against 50 persons for “promoting” the #EndSARS protests.
Sam Adeyemi, senior pastor of Daystar Christian Centre; Kanu Nwankwo, former Nigerian international footballer; Innocent Idibia, Nigerian singer and songwriter popularly known as 2face; David Adeleke, Nigerian Afropop singer better known as Davido, are among persons listed in the suit.
Other defendants listed in the suit include Aisha Yesufu, Kiki Mordi, Peter Okoye, Paul Okoye, Deji Adeyanju, Tiwa Savage, Folarin Falana (Falz), Feyikemi Abudu, and Debo Adebayo.
Thousands of Nigerians under the #EndSARS campaign, in October, took to the streets to protest police brutality.
Several public figures and celebrities lent their voices to the protests which gained national and international attention.
Okeke, in the court document posted on his Twitter handle on Monday, alleged that the defendants acted in a manner “with intent to assist in the promotion of an unlawful assembly under the guise or composition of #EndSARS”.
According to him, the defendants used Twitter, a microblogging social media platform, to instigate “some riotous and tumultuous persons” who destroyed his (Okeke’s) property.
He added that the actions of the defendants contravened Section 97 (2) of the Penal Code Act, C53 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2001.
In a tweet accompanying the suit, Okeke wrote: “Having initiated criminal proceedings against the #EndSARS riots promoters at exactly 1052hrs WAT, 09/11/2020, we shall ensure that same is diligently prosecuted in the interest of defence, public safety and public order. The Federal Republic of Nigeria is country of laws.”
There are allegations that some of the #EndSARS promoters and participants are being hunted by law enforcement agencies.
The federal government has also been accused of freezing the bank accounts of #EndSARS promoters.
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