Girl Falsely Accused of Using Pepper Soup to Kill 5 People and the Dangers of Social Media
Aisha Suleiman, tagged Peculiar on TikTok, recently made headlines after she was found innocent of the accusation of giving her ex-boyfriend, Emmanuel Elogie, pepper soup which claimed his life and that of four others.
The 16-year-old girl's story has reiterated the danger of a single story and showcased how dangerous social media can be.
Source: Instagram
How 5 people were found dead
Legit.ng earlier reported that the bodies of five people were found in a room at Afashio Community, Uzairue, Etsako West local government area of Edo State on Saturday, October 26, 2024.
Aisha became the scapegoat of the tragic incident and was accused of giving her 19-year-old ex, Emmanuel, poisoned pepper soup which claimed his life and the lives of four of his friends.
The tragic story spread from TikTok to other social media platforms like wildfire and the innocent teenager was at the centre of social media outrage, curses and conversations as people ran with the narrative that she was responsible for their deaths.
Aisha escaped jungle justice
As if that was not enough, some people wanted to take laws into their own hands by burning Aisha alive for the deaths of the five people.
This was confirmed by Aisha's father who witnessed his daughter almost lynched by an angry mob. He told Independent Television and Radio (ITV) in Benin City in an interview what he saw.
“When I got there (the place they wanted to burn Aisha), the place was like a market square. The first thing I saw was four litres of petrol — they tried to burn my house and my daughter (Aisha).
“I saw people who spoke the same language as me, and they told me to stay calm so that I wouldn’t be recognised.”
It is still unclear how Aisha managed to escape the irate crowd who wanted to toe the line of jungle justice.
"Pepper soup girl" trends on TikTok
Without hearing from the accused or awaiting the outcome of the police investigation, internet users, influencers and public commentators went to town with the narrative that Aisha was responsible for the deaths.
She became a trending topic on TikTok and someone even created a parody account, @peculair622, used to impersonate Aisha.
The account received hateful messages from angry netizens who always stormed the comment section to troll and insult her. Many questioned why she supposedly committed such a crime.
Quite worrying is the fact that a section of people expressed delight about the young men's deaths and begged for the pepper soup recipe.
"The conqueror ma.
"Our own queen of dragon.
"Our female queen.
"Please I need pepper soup 🍲 recipe."
Another person, user55386284770605, commented on the issue:
"For somebody to get that kind of idea to end someone's life especially her ex she knows whatsup he must have done something very bad."
Skit makers and content creators were not left out and tried to milk the "pepper soup girl" trend by making funny videos around the tragic incident - The five people were killed by generator fumes.
There were those who refused to go with the crowd and clamoured for the accused girl to be given a chance to share her side of the story, but their voices were drowned by the larger section of the internet already calling for the girl's head.
Source: Instagram
Who started the false narrative about Aisha?
After she was freed of the charges by the Edo State Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Aisha granted an interview where she shared her side of the story.
She accused her ex-boyfriend's best friend, Ezenna Japan, of being the brain behind the false narrative peddled against her. Aisha claimed he even placed a N500,000 bounty on her. In her words:
“I didn’t know anything about the pepper soup. I didn’t cook pepper soup that fateful day. It was the deceased’s best friend, Ezenna Japan, who posted my picture on social media, claiming that anyone who found me would be rewarded with N500,000 because I poisoned those who died.
“My friend took a screenshot and showed it to me. When my friend and I went to the police station to report it, the boy who posted my picture and his friends blocked the road. They wanted to kill me, insisting that I was the one who cooked the pepper soup.”
The dark side of social media
While it is a huge relief for Aisha and her family that she has been found innocent, one cannot imagine the emotional and psychological trauma she must have gone through over the incident.
For someone who is not up to 17, the young girl's courage is commendable. However, this brings to the front burner the dangers of social media.
A systematic review of research into the dark side of social media carried out by Dr Erfani and PhD candidate Layla Boroon, from the University of Technology Sydney, and Associate Professor Babak Abedin from Macquarie University showed that it has 46 harmful effects.
“...We reviewed more than 50 research articles published between 2003 and 2018. Some of the most common negative impacts included psychological harms such as jealousy, loneliness, anxiety and reduced self-esteem, as well as things like exposure to malicious software and phishing risks," Ms Boroon said.
In the case of Aisha, social media was the engine room for the spread of a fake and unverified story, which almost caused harm to an innocent girl.
This development has given a point to apologists of the school of thought that social media needs to be regulated.
And with AI advancements, one can't help but fear for the yet-to-be-discovered dark sides of the social media.
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Source: Legit.ng
