Rotimi Jolayemi, a journalist who has been detained for broadcasting a poem deemed insulting to Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, spoke about his experience while in police detention.
Mr Jolayemi stated he did not regret his detention as it was ordained to happen.
The police arrested Mr Jolayemi, who anchors a Yoruba radio program, ‘Bi aye se ri’ on Osun State Broadcasting Service and Radio Kwara on May 5.
The police filed a one-count charge marked FHC / ABJ / CR/104/2020 against the journalist on 22 May, 16 days after he was detained, according to a document obtained by our reporter.
However, he was released by the Nigerian Police Force on Friday after Federal High Court in Abuja approved his bail application.
A number of rights activists and organisations had called for the journalist’s release before Friday, accusing Mr Mohammed of abuse of power.
Speaking on Saturday, Mr Jolayemi confirmed that his wife, Dorcas Jolayemi, had been previously detained by police for eight days in a bid to get to him.
He also said two of his relatives, Joseph Jolayemi and John Jolayemi, have also been in detention for two days.
Commenting on his tempest with the Abuja police, he said “he was treated nicely and that the cops handled him in a professional way.”
“When I was taken from Ilorin to Abuja, those people (the police) took care of me even on the way. They did everything nicely to me. When I got to Abuja. The AIG told them to take good care of me. I was not tortured. They did everything with professionalism,” he said.
