The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Edo State, Dr. Samson Osagie, has issued a warning to Nigerian legal practitioners against the misuse of social media for malicious purposes.
Dr. Osagie also criticized former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Dr. Chidi Odinkalu, over a viral video that claimed he (Osagie) held a private meeting with a Supreme Court Justice in Benin City regarding the ongoing appeal on the Edo State governorship election.
The video, which surfaced online, alleged that on June 10, 2025, Dr. Osagie and a Supreme Court Justice were seen departing the Protea Hotel in Benin City.
Speaking at the June meeting of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Benin Branch, held at the Bar House in Benin, the Attorney-General denied any involvement in judicial interference concerning the appeal and called on members of the legal profession to uphold ethical conduct, particularly in their use of social media platforms.
Dr. Osagie cautioned that social media should not be used as a tool to damage reputations and emphasized that any criticism must be supported by “verifiable and unimpeachable facts.”
He described the allegations as a “wicked, malicious, and unpatriotic vitriolic attack,” and firmly denied any such meeting with any judicial officer about the appeal.
He further pointed out that the Supreme Court had clarified that the Justice mentioned in the video had been officially granted leave to attend a private event in Benin City hosted by a former President of the African Bar Association.
“Assuming but not conceding that I was in the said facility how does that translate to meeting with the jurist?” he asked rhetorically.
Dismissing the video being circulated by Odinkalu’s allies as defamatory and lacking concrete evidence, Dr. Osagie stated, “At no point was my image shown in the video, and such an effort to tarnish our collective integrity and professional standing is highly inappropriate for a lawyer of that calibre.”
