Desmond Elliot Opens Up On Sponsoring Bill To Regulate, Control Speech On Social Media

Desmond Elliot, a Nollywood actor and the member representing Surulere Constituency in the Lagos State House of Assembly, has debunked claims that he was sponsoring a bill seeking to regulate and control speech on social media.

AllNews reports that this comes hours after he was heavily criticised on social media.

A Twitter user, Dr. Olufunmilayo had taken to his Twitter page to allege that Elliot pushed the bill with the  aim to deny the Lekki massacre and arrest people who tweet about it.

The Lekki massacre happened on Tuesday, October 10, when soldiers opened gunfire on #endsars protesters at Lekki tollgate, Lagos.

Reacting to the allegations, the lawmaker, in a video asked Dr. Olufunmilayo to get his facts right before making claims.

According to him, the only thing he said was about celebrities,  influencers and motivational speakers cutting down on hate narrative.

He also maintained that no state assembly has the jurisdiction to pass any bill as it only lies in the exclusive list at the federal level.

Watch video below

On today’s plenary session,
I have reliable information Desmond Elliot blamed celebs/influencers for the carnage and went ahead to advocate social media regulation bill.

The link to the video is https://t.co/lPx02j4Ri3

It has been tampered with.
Can they pls release the video? https://t.co/i2QWQLHOwa

— #OurFavEndSARSDoc ????? (@DrOlufunmilayo) October 26, 2020

Meanwhile, Elliot had supported the protest calling for the end of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

Speaking during the protest at the Lagos Assembly complex in Ikeja the state capital, stated that SARS activities have gone beyond hotlines or reforms.

“It has gone beyond having hotlines or doing reforms. As the Deputy Speaker rightly said, we really need to look into it.