Amnesty demands release of journalist who criticised Lai Mohammed

Eniola Akinkuotu, Abuja

Rights group, Amnesty International, has called on the Nigeria Police Force to immediately release broadcast journalist, Rotimi Jolayemi, who has spent three weeks in custody for criticising the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed.

Jolayemi, who anchors a Yoruba radio programme, ‘Bi aye se ri’ on Osun State Broadcasting Service and Radio Kwara, was on May 5, 2020, arrested by the police for reciting a poem which was critical of the minister.

The PUNCH reports that Jolayemi’s wife, Dorcas, and his two brothers were arrested and spent over a week in police custody when they could not produce him. They were, however, released when the journalist turned himself in.

Jolayemi, who is the Vice-Chairman, Freelance and Independent Broadcasters Association of Nigeria, Osun State Chapter, was subsequently brought to Abuja where he has remained since May 7.

Reacting to the arrests, AI said in a tweet on Tuesday that the arrest of the journalist and his wife was unlawful.

“Jolayemi, a journalist was unlawfully arrested on May 6, 2020, over a poem considered critical of the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed. His wife too was unlawfully detained for eight days in squalid condition. We are calling on authorities to immediately release him,” the tweet read in part.