TikTokers caned and ordered to wash toilets as court rules they defamed Nigerian governor
The controversial issue of a British man being forced to take a swab of his buttocks in a public toilet during an hour-long interrogation before being ordered to wash the bathroom was settled on Tuesday after a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the man to wash the toilet after a ruling that he had defamed the country’s governor, Nasir El-Rufai.
Abuja based Judge Waleed Bin-Omer said the man cannot sue the government for the treatment received at one of the public toilets as his complaint is not based on any right guaranteed by the Constitution.
TikTokers – a Nigerian social media group for the promotion of Islam – have been accused of defaming the governor by posting pictures and videos of the group members being humiliated, manhandled and having their pants and underpants taken off after they were found smoking in a public toilet.
The incident, which took place last Sunday, has seen the group been banned from going into public toilets by police forces in a bid to crack the case.
Mr bin-Omer was hearing the case on Tuesday when he announced the decision, stating that there was no violation of the man’s constitutional rights that led to the group being forced to take a swab of his behind in the toilet.
The judge ruled that it is not the case that the man “did something to cause humiliation and humiliation to the governor” as he did not do anything to cause hatred or aversion in the public.
He explained to the man that he is not trying to defame the governor but “I am trying to find the truth, so that the truth will be known in this country.”
“I don’t want to defame the governor, he is a good man,” the man, who is not named in court, said. “What we want is to get our own facts and it is difficult because your lawyers told you to wash the toilet.”
The judge said he was told to wash the toilet because he was not from Abuja and was not an indigenous citizen.
He also said the only reason that the man was detained by security officials was because he was the head of a foreign corporation, which is a violation