Adeyinka Shoyemi, a Nigerian based in west London, has been
sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail for inciting racial hatred and
violence with inflammatory messages in Nigeria.
Evening Standard reported that messages, posted by accounts
under the name ‘Adeyinka Grandson’, were assessed by a specialist group of
officers in the Met’s Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit.
It said the 45-year old first came to the attention of
counter-terror police in March 2019 after members of the public reported him
for targeting particular ethnic groups in Nigeria.
Shoyemi posts, which had commentary encouraging attacks
against certain ethnic groups, were in potential breach of the law and launched
a probe.
Shoyemi had on his social media pages targeted Igbos and
other nationals who do not agree with his ideology.
He had also said Igbo and Fulani people are the cause of the
woes in Yorubaland, and they are killing the Yorubas and raping their children.
During the #EndSARS in October 2020, Shoyemi claimed that
most officers of the police unit were Fulanis and Igbos who used their
positions to kill Yorubas.
The suspect who was first arrested at his home address in
August 2019, and his residence searched by officers was initially charged with
six counts of inciting racial hatred.
He was released on bail with a condition not to post any
more social media posts which were threatening, abusive or insulting to any
ethnic groups, however he flouted his bail conditions.
He was later rearrested and two more inciting racial hatred
charges were added.
On Thursday, Shoyemi was sentenced to four-and-a-half years’
behind bars and was found guilty of eight counts of inciting racial hatred
after a trial at Southwark Crown Court.
Commander Richard Smith, Head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism
Command, 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.
He said, the CTIRU has in over ten years, been at the
forefront of getting harmful content removed from the internet and detecting
and investigating potential terrorist-related activity online.
He also encouraged anyone who comes across material or posts
that could be related to terrorism or violent extremist activity to report it
to the police.
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