Over time, social media has become a tool for many to air their views on social injustices as more and more people harp on the need for justice in cases where people’s rights have been trampled upon.
The above is yet again, evident in a fresh Twitter trend where Nigerians are calling for the release of social media influencer, Babatunde Olushola, who was detained over a post he made joking about the government with his account.
https://twitter.com/toolzbabe/status/1283386116209545216?s=20
From reports, we gathered that Olushola had compared the Buhari-led administration with the previous administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. However, there are other circumstances that suggests the reason for the Force Crime Investigation Department (FCID) to picki him up.
https://twitter.com/djsheylex/status/1283355998808346624?s=20
While it appears that there hasn’t been any official statement on the issue, many Nigerians are insinuating that Shola was arrested and is being detained for impersonation noting that he has been running a Goodluck Jonathan parody account where he made jokes to entertain his followers.
Please they should free him, he obviously hasn't done anything wrong #FreeShola 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
— Abike Arab 💰 Assistant. (@AbikeArab) July 15, 2020
We all have the right to freedom of speech but shola's incident is quite unfortunate. In a Country where your rights can be violated,anything can happen. I hope they #FreeShola soon, God knows the kind of torture he is going through rn because of a single harmless tweet for clout
— The Indaboski ❄ (@daboskii) July 15, 2020
A Twitter influencer has been arrested for more than 54days now just because he used a parody account which was clearly written on his bio that he wasn’t the person and the last time I checked parodies are allowed
This isn’t right..
Justice needs to be severed #FreeShola— 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐎𝐌𝐀 (@dahtgirl_ajex) July 15, 2020
https://twitter.com/Akanjigangan/status/1283390828149460996?s=20
Calling for his freedom, many Nigerians absolved him of any wrongdoing, stressing that whatever content he shared with his audience was purely for entertainment. Some added that he specifically pointed out in his bio that he is not the former president.
https://twitter.com/lasbruhas/status/1283388724823437312?s=20
Very soon, joking on tweeter would be grounds for arrest.#FreeShola
— Back Hand Slap! (@ComedyNigeria) July 15, 2020
Following his arrest and detention, his Twitter account has also been suspended.
