UK Councillor Found Guilty for Offensive Remarks About Nigerians

A court in the United Kingdom has found a 66-year-old Sunderland councillor, Glenn Gibbins, guilty over offensive comments he made about the Nigerian community in the city.

According to a report from Chronicle Live on Monday, the former Reform UK councillor, elected in May, was convicted after a three-hour trial at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court.

District Judge Zoe Passfield sentenced him to a 12-month community order that includes 150 hours of unpaid work.

Gibbins admitted his comments were offensive but argued they were not grossly so. He made these remarks in a Facebook post back in March 2024.

The suspended councillor claimed in court that his comment, which suggested melting Nigerians to fill potholes, was “naughty” but not meant to be taken literally.

The report noted that the group Hope Not Hate flagged his post after Gibbins was announced as a candidate for Sunderland City Council.

Authorities learned about the post after he won the election. In the controversial post, Gibbins wrote, “Can’t believe the amount of Nigerians in town… should melt them all down and fill in the potholes!!”

Prosecuting counsel Emma Dowling described the comment as conjuring up “despicable images.” She said Gibbins' remark suggested that Nigerians were “somewhat less than human, stripping people in that group of humanity.”

A Nigerian community leader in Sunderland, Godwin Ejeh, testified that he led a protest outside the City Hall on the day Gibbins was supposed to be sworn in. He hoped the councillor would apologize.

Gibbins had already been suspended by Reform UK after the post came to light and did not attend the ceremony.

Ejeh, who ran as a Liberal Democrat councillor in the May elections, denied trying to gain political advantage from the incident. He told the court, “We are talking about humanity here; it’s way beyond politics.”

In his defense, Gibbins said, “I thought it was a tongue-in-cheek joke. It was an unreal scenario. No one took it literally.”

He explained that he had set up his business in the Bridges shopping centre and recalled that, on the day of his post, some Nigerians talked to him about buying printing equipment.

Gibbins mentioned that he exchanged friendly banter with the Nigerians at his stall and that the conversation was light-hearted.

Later that night, after “a couple of cans of beer,” he saw a Facebook post about Nigerians and tried to share it. When that failed, he typed out his own message and posted it on his public Facebook profile.

When Dowling asked what kind of reaction he expected, he said, “It was tongue-in-cheek, a bit naughty, but I thought it was fun.”

He also talked about his earlier chat with the Nigerians at his stall, saying, “They had done my head in, in a funny way, not a bad way.”

When questioned about the humor in his post, Gibbins replied, “It’s an unreal scenario; you cannot melt people down. Anyone who takes that literally… you cannot do that. I wouldn’t dream of joking about killing people.”

Gibbins told the court he was not very political and saw becoming a councillor as a way to earn money during the slow summer season for his business. He also said he enjoyed helping residents before his suspension.

Summarizing the prosecution’s argument, Dowling said the post was grossly offensive and dehumanizing. She stated it was shared “for no reason whatsoever other than to offend and humiliate people from Nigeria who live in Sunderland.”

Defense counsel Adam King called the post “unfunny” and “an unpleasant joke/non-joke.” He mentioned comedians like Jo Brand, who joked about throwing acid on Nigel Farage, and Jimmy Carr, who joked about gipsies and the Holocaust, arguing that they were not prosecuted.

The court concluded that Gibbins’ remarks crossed the line into being “grossly offensive” to reasonable members of the public.

Christopher Atkinson from the Crown Prosecution Service in the North East said, “Racially charged and grossly offensive comments like this cross the line between free speech and criminal behavior. They can be particularly upsetting and dehumanizing for those in affected communities.

“I would remind anyone using social media that grossly offensive commentary of the type used by Glenn Gibbins is a criminal offense, and those posting similar material could face prosecution as a result of their actions.