Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
A Southwark Crown Court in London, has sentenced the convener of the Young Yorubas for Freedom, YYF, Adeyinka Grandson, to four and half years in prison for promoting racial hatred.
The Yoruba separatist fundamentalist, was in August 2019, arrested in London over his social media posts against some ethnic groups in Nigeria.
He had, in the offensive posts, made uncomplimentary remarks against Ndigbo as well as the Hausa-Fulani nations.
Grandson had also in a viral video in October, 2020, issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the Igbo to leave Yorubaland, or blame themselves for whatever happened to them if they failed to comply.
The threat was widely condemned by many individuals including Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka.
Following the intervention of his lawyers, the YYF leader was later released on bail on the condition that he would not make any hate speech or posts against any tribe.
But in sharp breach of his bail condition, Grandson, in May 2020, took to his social media handle again where he made more racial comments against the Igbo and Hausa-Fulani ethnic groups.
He was subsequently charged with six counts of inciting racial hatred.
However, he was again, released on bail, only to be caught making further racial comments, a development that led to his re-arrest in October 2020 with an addition of two counts to his previous six-count charge.
He was prosecuted and found guilty of inciting racial hatred after a trial at Southwark Crown court.
The UK Metropolitan police, announced in a statement Friday, that Grandson was sentenced to imprisonment for four and a half years.
The statement obtained by Ikengaonline read in part:“The Met’s Counter Terrorism Command launched an investigation in March 2019 as a direct result of members of the public raising concerns to police about online social media posts which contained comments aimed at particular ethnic groups based in Nigeria,” the statement reads.
“The posts were created by accounts under the name “Adeyinka Grandson” and were reported to police via the online reporting tool www.gov.uk/ACT.
“This material was assessed by specialist officers within the Met’s Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU). After assessing the posts, which contained commentary encouraging attacks against certain ethnic groups in Nigeria, officers determined these posts were potentially in breach of UK legislation and a formal investigation was launched. The activity was all found to be linked to Adeyinka Shoyemi.
“Shoyemi, 45 (12.04.76) of Powis Terrace, W11 was sentenced to four-and-a-half years’ imprisonment on Thursday, 31 March. He was found guilty on 30 November 2021 of eight counts of inciting racial hatred after a trial at Southwark Crown Court.”
