TikTokers caned and ordered to wash toilets as court rules they defamed Nigerian governor
Nigerian men were caned by a court and ordered to wash toilets as a judge said they defamed Nigeria’s governor, in what would be the first time such a punishment was handed down in a court of law.
A court in Lagos ordered the punishment after a group of protesters accused the governor of corruption.
Femi Okafor ordered the punishment after he was forced to listen to the protesters who accused him of corruption, a report in Reuters news agency said.
The protesters called on other Nigerians to join them and called for him to be caned and ordered to wash toilets as Nigerians have seen a number of cases of caning in the past.
The caning sentence was handed down to the members of the group who were charged with defaming the governor as a result of comments made at a protest on Monday.
“It was a very hot day, there was a lot of people attending the protest,” one of the caning victims said. “There were about 400 people who came to the protest. We were told the governor was going to speak.
“We were told later that he wouldn’t be speaking because the police wouldn’t let us on to his motorcade,” the man said.
Nigeria’s most famous politician, Obasanjo was at the protest when he was ordered to clean out his own toilets and told to wash the floor in his office before he can be re-elected.
The protesters had taken to the streets to demand that Obasanjo step down from office last week over allegations that he and his family had profited from government contracts awarded to companies controlled by him.
But the protesters were stopped short of forcing Obasanjo to step down, and he was re-elected governor by a vote of 36 to 16 percent margin.
It was the first time the courts had ordered the caning punishment, which some