A Nigerian lawyer based in the United Kingdom, Dayo Babalola, has disputed reports that Nigerians in the diaspora protested against INEC Chairman Professor Joash Amupitan in London, claiming the demonstrators were a small group allegedly paid to cause a scene.
Naija News reports that Babalola, who said he attended the Chatham House event on Thursday, made the claims in a statement on Friday.
The lawyer said no more than 15 people took part in the protest, which he insisted happened after the event had ended.
He said some of them wore items bearing the image of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and dispersed when the police were called.
Babalola alleged that he later saw some of the protesters on Jermyn Street receiving money from a man wearing NDC-branded clothing.
He said the group hurled insults at him when they noticed him, to which he jokingly responded that they had “made some small pounds to pay your bills for a few days.”
The lawyer rejected suggestions that the INEC chairman was embarrassed, saying Amupitan delivered his presentation, took questions and participated fully in the panel discussion.
He said about 200 people attended the session in person and roughly 374 joined virtually.
“What happened outside the venue afterwards should not be deliberately conflated with the quality, substance or outcome of the official engagement,” he said.
While acknowledging the right to protest, Babalola accused some social media users of amplifying misleading captions.
“There is a clear distinction between a legitimate protest and an attempt to manufacture a narrative for political propaganda,” he said.
He insisted that the actions of a few individuals should not be attributed to Nigerians abroad.
