This week recorded series of trending news stories across various media outlet which was made up of controversial happenings and apparently, the social media was agog drawing unending backlash, criticism and other reactions.
In light of the recent controversies surrounding these stories, it is noteworthy to mention that social media platforms played a very important and vital role in addressing these issues.
In a nutshell, the Biodun Fatoyinbo’s rape scandal, Senator Elisha Abbo’s assault, RUGA settlement suspension by the federal government, social media shut-down and other controversial news dominated the socio-political discourse this week. The Nation brings you a brief round-up of the major stories this week. Alao Abiodun Reports
Biodun Fatoyinbo’s rape scandal
The sexual allegation leveled against the senior pastor of COZA, Biodun Fatoyinbo, by Busola Dakolo, wife of Nigeria’s popular musician Timi Dakolo has continued to generate heated controversies this week.
Busola Dakolo accused the cleric of raping her when she was still very young.
Busola, a mother of 3, in an interview with Y!Naija, explained how Pastor Biodun allegedly tried to have sex with her in his matrimonial home when she came to assist his wife at the time she delivered her first child.
Timi Dakolo had accused Fatoyinbo of taking advantage of women in COZA, and leaving them emotionally broken afterwards.
Another woman, a former staff of Biodun Fatoyinbo, also came out to detail how he raped her when she worked with the church as a legal guardian to Fatoyinbo’s children in a foreign country.
The woman who spoke anonymously in an exclusive interview with Chude Jideonwo, co-founder of Red Media said the pastor raped her in 2017.
The flamboyant pastor trailed by murmurs of sexual impropriety and abuses of power in his conduct with his members for years, most famously in the 2013 scandal where a female member of his church revealed an affair with him.
Fatoyinbo however announced on Monday that he would embark on a leave of absence in light of the rape allegations made against him by Busola. stepping down from his position running one of Nigeria’s fastest-growing Pentecostal churches, the Commonwealth of Zion Assembly, since the allegations against him emerged last week.
Protesters stood outside different branches of the Commonwealth of Zion Assembly, holding placards which read: “Thou shall not rape.”
The combined outrage across social media created by strong, impassioned responses caused the actions to take place.
Senator Elisha Abbo’s assault
In another news revealed this week, Senator Elisha Abbo, lawmaker representing Adamawa-North senatorial district, was caught on camera physically assaulting a woman at an adult toy shop in Abuja.
Abbo, who is believed to be the Nigeria’s youngest senator, was caught hitting the woman after she begged him not to assault the shop-owner whom the lawmaker accused of insulting him.
It was gathered that the assault occurred on May 11, a month before he was sworn in on June 11.
The assault was reported on May 14 at the Maitama Area Command Headquarters on Nile Street, but the police told the victim to go look for the Senator’s telephone number or they would not be able to do anything about it, Premium Times reports.
According to witnesses and sources, Abbo had entered the shop at about 6:00 p.m. on May 11, a Saturday accompanied by three young women to purchase adult toys.
However, shortly after they began shopping for the toys, one of the three girls brought in by Mr Abbo started throwing up.
She vomited multiple times, prompting the shop-owner to remark that the woman should have vomited outside and not inside her shop, especially since she was not a child.
The senator, who was said to be agitated by the sudden illness of one of his girls, was said to have accused the shop-owner of poisoning the store’s air conditioner.
The shopowner’s argument that if the air conditioner had been contaminated others in the shop would have also taken ill further angered Mr Abbo.
It was gathered that the assaulted woman, who is nursing a child, was taken to a hospital, where she was treated for eye inflammation and other injuries she sustained during the attack.
Senator Abba was reported to have threatened to deal with the shop owner if the footage of his violence ever surfaced.
The victim and her lawyer were said to have demanded an apology from Mr Abbo. They also want him to settle the medical bill and desist from further threats of physical harm against the woman.
However, he has apologized saying he had learned from the incident and pleaded for forgiveness from the Senate, his family and citizens who might have been offended by his actions.
“It is therefore with deep sense of remorse and responsibility that, I, Sen. Elisha Abbo, profoundly apologize to all Nigerians, the Senate, the People’s Democratic Party, my friends as well as our mothers, the Nigerian women,” he said in the video.
RUGA settlement suspension
As reactions continue to trail the suspension of RUGA settlement, President Muhammadu Buhari has succumbed to pressure on Wednesday by suspending the controversial Ruga settlement scheme, designed to settle the Fulani and their cattle on acquired land across states in the federation.
The suspension was announced in Abuja after governors representing the six geopolitical zones of the country met with Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The Chairman of the National Committee on Food Security/Herders/Farmers Conflicts and Governor of Ebonyi State, Mr Dave Umahi, disclosed the government’s decision to journalists after the meeting.
Besides Umahi, others at the meeting included Plateau State Governor, Mr Simon Lalong; Governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu; and the Deputy Governor of Adamawa State, Mr Martins Nasir.
Umahi explained that the controversial Ruga policy was not consistent with the National Livestock Transformation Plan, which was earlier deliberated upon and approved by the National Economic Council. Osinbajo is the Chairman of the NEC.
Controversy had trailed the project since it was announced in June. While some governors welcomed it, others had said it could lead to more attacks on communities.
Wole Soyinka, Nobel laureate, had also opposed the policy, saying it could spark off an explosion.
Social media shutdown
On Wednesday, there was a worldwide social media shutdown which raised fears in the mind of the users.
Online monitoring service DownDetector reported that the outage began at around 1200 GMT on Wednesday and affected Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
According to DownDetector, thousands of users around the world were reporting outages, with Europe and North America most impacted. Individual users and businesses were affected.
#Facebookdown and #Instagramdown trended on Twitter as users around the world reported these apps were not functioning.
Supreme court upholds election of Osun governor
The supreme court has upheld the victory of Gboyega Oyetola, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Osun governorship election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Oyetola winner of the election after a rerun in September 2018.
Dissatisfied with INEC’s declaration, Ademola Adeleke, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, filed a petition at the tribunal and he was declared winner of the election but Oyetola appealed the verdict of the tribunal.
In May, the appeal court gave judgement in favour of the APC candidate. The court had set aside the entire proceedings of the tribunal, saying the panel was not well constituted.
Delivering the majority judgement on Friday, Bode Rhodes-Vivour, a judge, held that the appeal court was right to set aside the entire proceedings of the tribunal.
Rhodes-Vivour said the failure of J. Obiora, a member of tribunal, to attend proceedings on February 6 rendered the judgement a “nullity.”
The judge also said the certified true copy (CTC) was not signed by Obiora.
“It affected the proceedings. The appeal is dismissed,” he said.
Giving the minority judgement, Kumai Akaas, a member of the apex court’s panel, said a judge does not have to sign a certified true copy (CTC) of a judgement before it is valid.
“There is a precedence. The judge does not need to sign CTC of the judgement,” he said.
Five of the seven judges on the apex court panel agreed with the judgement which favoured Oyetola while two disagreed.