Student who created Goodluck Jonathan’s parody account, freed after 82 days in detention

 

Olusola Babatunde, a final year student at Ladoke Akintola University and social media influencer who was arrested for creating a parody Twitter account of former President Goodluck Jonathan, has been released after spending 82 days in detention.

 

Media personality and Convener of #RevolutionNow protest, Omoyele Sowore, announced his release via Twitter. He tweeted: 

#FreeShola has just been released from @PoliceNG detention in Abuja after more than 2 months for creating a parody account in the name of ex-President @GEJonathan, the former Pres. has also agreed to discontinue the bogus criminal trial. G-thanks to all! #RevolutionNow

Recounting his experience while in detention, Olusola said: 

 “There was no social distancing in detention. I guess the people in the cells are exceptional. It is like COVID-19 doesn’t infect them and this is despite the fact that new suspects are brought in every day without testing.

“However, we had an incident just once. There was a Chinese man who was a gold miner who fell ill. He was taken to a hospital and tested positive for COVID-19, so he was hurriedly released.

“He was in the Force Intelligence Bureau department so only the suspects in that cell were tested. We were all at risk of getting infected with COVID-19.

“It wasn’t easy. I spent 82 days in detention, and I was transferred to three different cells. I wore the same clothes for 82 days.”

 The student, who expressed disappointment that he had been arrested despite being one of Goodluck Jonathan's biggest supporters, added:

“The funny thing is that I even tweeted good things about Goodluck Jonathan a few weeks before my arrest. I said Jonathan’s administration was better than that of the current president. So, I was shocked, but this is Nigeria.”

When asked if he was still a fan of Jonathan, Olusola jokingly said: “May God help us.”