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Human Rights lawyer, Effiong Inibehe, has said the Force Headquarters Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, misinformed citizens by stating that curse is cyberbullying.
Adejobi, on his X handle, on Thursday warned citizens to desist from cursing other citizens. He stated that curse as cyberbullying is a criminal offence.
“Raining direct curses on someone online is cyber bullying, not expression of freedom or criticism. And cyberbullying, which is even different from defamation, is a criminal offence and punishable. Be guided,” Adejobi said.
In reaction, Inibehe challenged the Nigeria Police spokesman to back his claim with a constitutional provision.
“This is ignorance of the law. The fact that this very ridiculous opinion is from the spokesperson of the primary law enforcement agency in Nigeria says a lot about the decadence of our institutions.
“To be clear, raining curses on someone is not a criminal offence, and I challenge the Force PRO to cite any law that supports his statement.
“By virtue of Section 36 (12) of the Nigerian Constitution, for an act or omission of be termed a crime, it must be expressly and specifically defined as such under a written law,” he stated.
While emphasizing civility, Inibehe called on Nigerians to ignore the misleading statement from Adejobi.
“This Force PRO has a history of inventing imagery offences from his head. Also, curses do not constitute threat to the life of the person that is cursed.
“Curses do not have effect or value in the eyes of the law for the simple reason that they are premised on superstition, or at best the supernatural forces. The law does not concern itself with trifling things or spiritual matters.
“What is more appalling is the fact that the supposed image maker of the Police does not know that the Cybercrimes Act had since been amended, and that the notorious wordings of the provisions of the old Section 24 which the police has been using to witch-hunt critics has been repealed,” he added.
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