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

Olusola Babatunde, the final year student of 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 was 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.”