Activist Omoyele Sowore has charged the Nigeria Police Force to stop acting as a private army to wealthy and famous citizens.

This was as Sowore called on the judiciary to stop making outrageous rulings on internet speech.

He made this post on X, in reaction to singer Adekunle Gold’s attack on former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2012.

The singer had penned: “Dear God, if you give us Dagrin back, we will give you Jonathan back. Lol.” ”

Sowore questioned how a singer who benefited from freedom of expression would turn around to use the police, court and the cybercrime framework against ordinary Nigerians.

He wrote “This was @AdekunleGold in 2012 criticizing then President @GoodluckJonathan openly. At the time it was rightly called free speech, and if he had been arrested for those tweets, we would have been on the streets demanding his immediate release.

Then how does a person who has benefited from freedom of expression turn around years later to use the police, courts and the brutal cybercrime framework against ordinary Nigerians over online banter and social media exchanges?

“You can’t enjoy free speech when you’re powerless and criminalize it the moment you become influential.

“Freedom of expression must be for all, whether it is celebrities, politicians, activists, or poor young Nigerians on social media.

“The Nigeria Police Force @PoliceNG need to stop acting as a private army for the rich and famous and the judiciary need to stop giving outrageous punishment over internet speech that should never be criminal matters in the first place.

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