Governor Seyi Makinde on Tuesday disclosed that South-west governors are not in support of a clampdown on social media.
The governor made the clarification while speaking at the inauguration of the panel of inquiry at the Executive Council Chamber (FEC) of the state’s Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan.
According to the governor, there was never a time that South-west governors voted in favour of a clampdown on social media at a recent meeting in Lagos.
“Existing cyber-crime act should be able to deal with issues that might arise from the use of cyberspace and that efforts must be made to rebuild the trust deficit that currently exists between the government and the citizens
“And I said in various fora that we are fully aware of the trust-deficit in the system right now between the government, leaders and the ordinary citizens. There is a lot of anger in the land. There is a lot of hunger as well. And we all have that responsibility to calm things down and to reduce that trust-deficit,” he said.
Decrying what he called the prevalence of fake news, the governor cautioned that those who want to play politics with other people’s emotions should note that “what usually goes around usually would come around.”
On the panel of inquiry, the governor said the 11-man Judicial Panel of Inquiry is to investigate allegations of extrajudicial killings and brutality by security agents against residents of the State.
He said: “The state government is ready to take appropriate actions against indicted persons or agencies.
“All affected persons should feel free to come forward with their complaints.”
Governor Makinde stressed further that “the state government through the platforms it earlier set up to collate cases of rights infringements has received close to 50 complaints of alleged police brutality and human rights violations.
“As a government, we are doing our part and setting up this panel of inquiry, some people have said it will not yield any result. Well, the only way it can produce results is if people present their cases and bring evidence to support them so that the panel can make their recommendations which will then be adopted and implemented.”
The 11 man panel chaired by former Chief of Judge of the State, Justice Badejoko Adeniji included Mrs. O. O Ogundele (Secretary); Prof. J. O Akintayo; Hon. Babatunde Oduyoye; Mrs. W. F Odutayo; N. O Sulaiman; Ms. M. Y Kolawole; Mrs. M. Badmus; Ms. O Akintayo FalowoSaheed; and Mrs. Agbeja Adebobola.
