The Socialist Party of Nigeria, SPN, has condemned the arrest and detention of a Kwara-based poet and journalist, Rotimi Jolayemi, and members of his family by the police.
He was said to have been held over his critical comments on the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, and the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouk.
“We demand his immediate and unconditional release while we call on the government and the Police to henceforth desist from harassing and threatening his relations.
“We call on labour (NLC, TUC and ULC) and pro-masses organisations to condemn this anti-democratic action of Buhari government, demand the immediate release of Jolayemi and an end to all attacks on democratic rights,” SPN said in a statement issued by its Acting National Chairperson, Abiodun Bamigboye, and National Secretary, Chinedu Bosah.
The party’s statement reads in part:
“Jolayemi’s wife, Dorcas and two of his brothers have also gone through the ordeal of arrest and detention for over a week because he was allegedly not reachable and they were made to suffer for it.
“Jolayemi was arrested on May 6, 2020 and transferred to Abuja on May 7, 2020. Before Dorcas and the two other brothers were arrested, their phones and that of Rotimi Jolayemi were illegally bugged and their conversations recorded in flagrant breach of the right to privacy.
“Jolayemi was charged to Court by the Police on May 22, 2020 for posting an audio message ‘for the purpose of causing annoyance, insult, hatred and ill will to the current Hon. Minister of Information and Culture, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 24(1) (b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention etc) Act 2015’ but he’s still being detained.
“In effect, Jolayemi has remained in detention for more than 24 days and still counting. This is a repeat of the brutal spectacle of the persecution of Omoyele Sowore, Agba Jalingo, Jones Abiri and others, through the process of arrest, detention and phantom trial.
“The actions of the Nigerian Police and other Security Force show that the armed forces are organized for private interest of the highest bidder and for the most powerful and privileged bourgeois ruling elite in society whereas the funding of the armed forces is from the general public. The Police and the members of the bourgeois ruling should stop criminalising dissent and critical opinions, it is undemocratic to so do.”
