Journalist Arrested For Insulting Nigeria’s Information Minister On Whatsapp

A freelance journalist has been locked up in a cell for almost two weeks on the orders of Minister of Information and Culture.

Rotimi Jolayemi, popularly known as Oba Akewi, doubles as the vice-chairman of Freelance and Independent Radio Broadcasters Association of Nigeria (FIBAN), Osun State branch.

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Olu Olugbade, the FIBAN chairman who confirmed the incident, said the journalist had recorded an eight-minute audio poem criticising the minister, Lai Mohammed and released via WhatsApp.

The audio went viral and the journalist went into hiding. The police picked up his wife and two brothers for questioning. This forced him to turn himself in.

The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights has also condemned his continuous illegal detention. It averred that it was against the rights of the journalist to be detained for expressing his views.

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The group has therefore called for the immediate release of the journalist who has still not been charged with any offence at a court of law.

The spokesperson of the Minister of Information has meanwhile denied his boss is the mastermind of the detention.

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He called on those making the allegations to channel their grievances to the proper quarters and leave the Minister alone to concentrate on his work.

SOURCE: AfricaCelebrities.com