Nwakaego Okoye, known online as Ego, wasn’t much of a viral TikToker. But like many of her peers, she had a small microphone and offered her neo-insider quips on celebrity culture, ex-Big Brother housemates and whatever news dominated her For You page on TikTok.
A few weeks ago, she made a series of allegations about the actress Eniola Badmus. She said she had witnessed the actress act similarly to the character she played in her breakout role in the hit Jenifa Diaries. She said the actress tried to pimp her friend before her own eyes. She said she had on good authority that the actress had traded sexual favour for financial benefits.
She was lying.
The actress Eniola Badmus in an interview with the radio presenter Daddy Freeze said she reached out to her and asked her to take down the post, or at least provide evidence for the allegations. According to Badmus, she told her off. In return, Eniola Badmus said she would take legal action against Nwakaego Okoye.
It was not an empty threat.
Days later, Ego frantically posted videos of herself on social media where she said that Eniola Badmus was outside her house with the police. She pleaded for help from her followers.
No help came.
Weeks later, a court sentenced her to three years in prison or a N150,000 fine. She has since said publicly that she lied for social media clout and was offered money to make the posts.
Ego quickly became the latest cautionary tale on the perils of going viral. The court ruled that she had been cyberstalking Badmus.
As TikTok has become the latest social media platform for young Nigerians looking to go viral, young influencers have posted extreme content to go viral, sometimes landing them behind bars.
Maruf Abdullahi, or as he’s known, Trinity Guy, the once fast-rising skit maker known for his extreme pranks, who lashed out on especially women who didn’t relieve his pranks well, was arrested in June for a video in which he persistently asked a ten-year-old girl the colour of his genitalia.
The TikToker has since apologised for promoting paedophilia for a post he made after they faced backlash on social media.
When an NYSC member enjoyed virality on TikTok for a video of a pupil who he said would “destroy men,” backlash followed on social media from critics who said that the post was sexualising children.
The content creators, who go by Simigo and Ezebueze in April, came under heavy backlash for their video in which they fantasised about raping a 2-year-old child. They, too, have apologised for the skit.
In the past few years, content for giggles has veered from funny cat videos to extreme undertaking, physical assault for a platform that incentivises virality.
While backlash has followed these TikTokers, the recent case of Ego has raised new questions about freedom of expression in a country where government agencies sometimes trample on free expression or free press.
But the controversial CyberCrime Prohibition Act of 2015 clears the path for this type of crackdown. According to the act,
If a person shares a message online that they “know to be false, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, ill will or needless anxiety to another” then the person has committed a crime.
The act says that the person “shall be liable on conviction to a fine of not more than N7,000,000.00 or imprisonment for a term of not more than 3 years or to both such fine and imprisonment.”
“CyberCrime Prohibition Act 2015 is alive and active. Avoid cyberstalking or cyberbullying. It’s a crime, and it must be condemned in its totality. I always say, ‘No sentiment in law,’ do the right thing, and be protected. Be warned,” Olumuyiwwa Adejobi, the public relations officer of the Police, said.
But because social media has always been for those who can go viral, for some of these creators, at times, the arrest and their countless apology videos are part of their virality act.
The du,o Simigo and Ezebueze posted heavily edited videos of themselves as apologies, peppered with the credentials of their virality, features on NaijaPR and GistLover.
What seems to be the crackdown on these TikTokers has turned into another means for many to attain a new virality. The incentive to go viral will always remain attractive on the internet, where social media companies display likes, views and comment numbers for all to see.
Till those metrics hold water no more, jail time or the prospect of jail time, for many, is a small price to pay to go viral.
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