Toronto police arrested a Nigerian woman after she threatened to poison members of rival Nigerian ethnic groups on social media.
Earlier this week, Toronto police arrested Amaka Sonnberger for uttering threats after she was recorded on a TikTok livestream threatening to add poison to the food of Yoruba people and those from the country of Benin.
“Record me very well; it’s time to start poisoning the Yoruba and the Benin. Put poison for all [their] food for work. Put poison for [their] water,” said Sonnberger.
Speaking mostly in Pidgin English, Sonnberger dared the TikTok live audience to report her to the authorities. A recording of the video proceeded to go viral within the Nigerian community on social media.
Abike Dabiri, a member of Nigeria’s House of Representatives and the head of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, identified Sonnberger by name on social media and alerted Canadian authorities about the threats.
Sonnberger was arrested on Sunday by Toronto police and charged with uttering threats. The police are treating the offence as a hate crime.
Sonnberger proclaimed that she is a member of the Igbo ethnic group and asserted that her threats to poison the Yoruba and Benin were a response to anti-Igbo hate.
The Yoruba people are the second largest ethnic group in Nigeria while Benin is a small country bordering the much more populous Nigeria.
Nigeria has a long history of ethnic conflict between the Yoruba, Igbo, as well as the Hausa-Fulani, with the Igbo facing a devastating pogrom in 1966, leading to the Nigerian civil war.
Canada has welcomed hundreds of thousands of Nigerian migrants over the course of several decades, with tens of thousands of Nigerians coming to Canada on an annual basis.
As of 2021, there are over 81,000 permanent residents or Canadian citizens residing in Canada while over 111,000 Nigerians residing in Canada are non-permanent residents.
True North reached out to the Toronto Police Service and Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada to confirm Sonnberger’s immigration status, but Toronto police refused to release such information and IRCC did not respond.
Canada has seen an increase in sectarian conflict and violence playing out on Canadian streets in recent years.
Last year, in the Malton community of Mississauga, a celebration of the Indian holiday Diwali devolved into a clash between Sikhs and Hindus in the parking lot of a mall.