media influencers and celebrities not to promote hate with their
platforms.
The member representing Surulere Constituency 1 in the
Lagos House of Assembly, Desmond Elliot, has debunked rumours that
the lawmakers are working on a bill to regulate social
media.
Earlier on Tuesday, Twitter was agog with tweeple claiming the
Lagos Assembly is working on a bill to control the use of social
media. The end product of the rumoured bill, some of them claimed,
was to water down the shooting of #EndSARS protesters in Lekki.
candlelight procession in honour of victims of police
brutality.
But in a video on his Instagram page on the same day, the
46-year-old actor described the reports as “unfounded.”
“Please, I beg of you, I beg us. I beg everyone. This is not
true, it is totally unfounded,” the actor who has featured in more
than two hundred films, many television shows and soap operas,
explained.
“Aren’t we going through a lot already? It is not true, period.
No State House of Assembly, not one, has the jurisdiction to even
deliberate or pass any bill like this; it is not possible.”
READ ALSO: Judicial Panels Must Investigate
Lekki Shooting, Other Incidents- UK
While explaining that the passage of such bill can only be done
at the Federal level, the lawmaker added, however, that “every
member (lawmaker) has a right to say something.”
He equally explained that he only called on celebrities and
social media influencers not to use their platforms to promote hate
particularly now that the country is going through a lot.
READ ALSO: [#EndSARS:] Nigerians Protest
In London Against Violence
“The only thing I said towards social media was to the
celebrities, social influencers and motivational speakers,” he
stated. “I said, ‘listen, you have followers. Please, can we cut
down on the hate narrative?’ Everyone is going through so much
right now!”
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I never said that No
bill to that effect No house of Assembly can develop such a
bill
Protests Against Police Brutality
Protests against police brutality and extrajudicial killings had
rocked the country, forcing the Inspector-General of Police (IGP),
Mohammed Adamu to scrap the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
Despite the disbandment of the loathed arm of the police, the
protests gathered steam as demonstrators believed the IGP’s
pronouncement was mere rhetorics.
READ ALSO: We Must Ensure Nigeria’s
Democracy Remains Stable, Buratai Tells Army Officers, Soldiers
On Tuesday last week, things, however, took another dimension
when some armed men believed to be soldiers, opened fire on the
demonstrators at the Toll Gate in Lekki, Lagos State.
injured protesters at the hospital.
Human rights organization, Amnesty International, put the death
toll from the incident and another one in Ikeja, Lagos at 12.
Witnesses claim many died from the shooting with the Lagos State
Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu confirming that twenty-eight people
were wounded. He later said two deaths were recorded.
But the Nigerian Army said it was not responsible for the
shooting at the Lekki Toll Gate.
The incident triggered a looting spree and the burning of
buildings, shopping malls and others by some irate persons.