A lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the University of Ilorin, Chief Elijah Ola Olorunsuwa who was arrested by the police on Wednesday has regained his freedom.
Chief Olorunsuwa confirmed his release in a telephone chat on Thursday.
The lecturer, who is the immediate past National President, Oke–Offin Development Association, Oke–Offin-Bunu, was reportedly arrested at his residence in Ilorin, Kwara State, in the early hours of Wednesday by a team of police officers.
His arrest by police was premised on a petition signed by the Kogi State Security Adviser, Commander Jerry Omodara (rtd), because of a social media post made by Olorunsuwa over the awarded contract for the Kabba-Oke-Offin-Olle-Iluke road construction project in Kabba-Bunu Local Government Area of the state.
Omodara, in the petition, said that Olonishuwa accused the Kogi State Ministry of Works and Housing and the government of Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo of Kogi State of lying about the sponsors of the road project, “claiming that it was a World Bank sponsored project and not a State Government sponsored project”.
He asked the police to apprehend Olorunsuwa and be made to tender all documents available to him from or by the World bank to back his claim or be charged for cybercrime and be prosecuted.
It was gathered that the lecturer was released after he posted disclaimers on his social media accounts to correct the allegedly wrong information that he has broadcast to the public.
His arrest has raised fresh concerns about the level of intolerance to public criticism amongst the citizens who reacted that the right response to criticism targeted at government is clarification and not intimidation.
A social media commentator, Anjie Nishola Kirin, has expressed concerns that community WhatsApp groups have increasingly become unsafe spaces for citizens to air their views about government activities.
“There are agents everywhere. We all live under surveillance. Some people that we call friends and families are paid to cyberstalk, forward, screenshot and report every criticism of the government to their ogas at the top”, he said.
