Cursing people online is cyberbullying, criminal offense – Police

The spokesman of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, has said that raining direct curses on someone online is cyberbullying.

Adejobi made this known in a post on his official X account on Friday morning, explaining that raining direct curses on someone online is not expression of freedom or criticism.

“Cyberbullying, which is even different from defamation, is a criminal offence and punishable. Be guided,” the police spokesman warned.

Section 24 of Nigeria’s cybercrime act as amended in 2024 prohibits cyberstalking and cyberbullying, which are defined as sending messages or posting statements that are “false, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, ill will or needless anxiety to another”.

Section 24(1) of the Cybercrime act reads: “A person who knowingly or intentionally sends a message or other matter by means of computer systems or network that is grossly offensive, pornographic or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character or causes any such message or matter to be sent, or he knows 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 or causes such a message to be sent, commits an offence under this Act and is liable on conviction to a fine of not more than N7million or imprisonment for a term, not more than three years or both.”

Section 38 of the act also empowers law enforcement agencies to access and intercept data from any computer system or network without a court order, which some organizations have argued could violate the privacy and confidentiality of journalists and their sources.

Interestingly, section 39 of the 1999 Constitution provides that: “(1) every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.”

However, Section 45 of the 1999 Constitution provides: “(1) Nothing in sections 37, 38, 39, 40 and 41 of this Constitution, shall invalidate any law that is reasonably justified in a democratic society in the interest of defence, public safety, public order, public morality or public health; or for the purpose of protecting the rights and freedom of other persons.”