Member of the Lagos State House of Assembly Desmond Elliot has debunked rumour he is pushing for a bill to regulate social media use in the country.
The actor-turned-politician in a video posted on Instagram on Monday while citing a post from a Twitter user Dr Olufunmilayo said it was not in the jurisdiction of the state to pass such a bill.
He said: “Good evening. My name is Desmond Elliot. I just came out of a plenary sitting at the House of Assembly and before we finished, Dr Olufimilayo tweeted saying ‘The Lagos State House of Assembly is developing a bill to regulate and control speech on social media and Desmond Elliot is said to be one of those pushing this. So the plan is to deny the Lekki massacre.’
“Please, I beg of you, I beg us and everyone. This is not true, it is totally unfounded. Dr Olufunmilayo, why don’t you even verify? Aren’t we going through a lot already? It is not true, period. No State House of Assembly has the jurisdiction to pass any bill like this, it is not possible. It simply lies on the exclusive list on the federal level. You can’t. Every member has a right to say something but you can’t.
“The only thing I said towards social media was that the celebrities, social influencers and motivational speakers should know we have followers so we should please cut down on the hate narrative. Everyone is going through so much right now.”
Dr Olufunmilayo responded, urging the lawmaker to release the video where he spoke about celebrities and influencers in the assembly.
