Why a Nigerian woman faces jail time for reviewing tomato puree
Al Jazeera
Activists and rights groups say Nigeria’s vague cybercrime laws are used to silence journalists and ordinary citizens.
Lagos, Nigeria – On September 16, 2023, Chioma Okoli posted a review of the Nagiko tomato puree she bought at a street market in Sangotedo, Lagos, on her Facebook page.
She was telling the few thousand followers on her small-business page that it tasted more sugary than other products, asking those who had tried it what they thought.
The post received a diversity of opinions, but it reached a head when a Facebook user commented: “Stop spoiling my brother product, if [you] don’t like it, use another one than bring it to social media…”
Okoli responded, saying: “Help me advise your brother to stop ki**ing people with his product…” Two days later, the post had garnered more than 2,500 comments, to her surprise.
That Sunday, as she was stepping out of church with her husband, she was accosted by two men and one woman in plainclothes who said they were police officers, she said. They took her to the Ogudu police station still dressed in her church attire.
