A United Kingdom court has sentenced a Nigerian – Adeyinka Shoyemi to four-and-a-half years in prison for stoking racial violence in Nigeria via his posts on social media.
Gatekeepers News reports that Shoyemi who had been found guilty of eight counts of inciting racial hatred following a trial at Southwark Crown Court on November 30, 2021, was sentenced on Thursday, March 31.
The West London resident who operates on social media with the name “Adeyinka Grandson” was accused by the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command of posting hate messages targeted at certain ethnic groups in Nigeria.
In March 2019, the Met Police started investigating the convict following complaints from members of the public regarding his online activities.
After the content was carefully assessed by the specialist officers within the Met’s Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU), it was determined that the posts were potentially in breach of UK legislation.
The Head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, Commander Richard Smith, said, “Our Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit – the first of its kind to be established anywhere in the world – was instrumental in identifying Shoyemi and his activity.
“Over the last ten years, the CTIRU has been at the forefront of getting harmful content removed from the internet, and detecting and investigating potential terrorist-related activity online.
“We continue to need the help and support of the public and I would encourage anyone who comes across material or posts that could be related to terrorism or violent extremist activity to report it to us so that our specialist officers can take action where necessary.”
In a statement by the Met Police, Shoyemi was first arrested in August 2019 and officers recovered various digital devices from his home after thorough searching.
After the seized devices were searched for evidence, Shoyemi was charged in May 2020.
He was later released on bail with the conditions to desist from making threatening, abusive, and insulting any ethnic groups posts on social media.
In October 2020, officers re-arrested Shoyemi after making further offending posts while on bail.
