A freelance broadcaster, Rotimi Jolayemi, better known as Oba Akewi has been charged to court over a WhatsApp message originating from him in which Information and Culture Minister, Alh. Lai Mohammed was disparaged and called unprintable names.
Oba Akewi got into trouble for slinging expletives at Mohammed in a poem he composed and shared on WhatsApp where it went viral.
The incident happened in Kwara State where they both hail from.
From indication, the minister was behind the travails of the poet, who initially went into hiding to evade arrest prompting police to apprehend his wife and two brothers.
Upon surrendering himself, the police released the wife and brothers and seventeen days into his detention, charges have finally been pressed against the broadcaster.
The charge sheet read in part: “That you, Jolayemi Oba Akewi, male, aged 43, on or about the 14th day of April 2020 at Osolo Compound Ekan Nla, Kwara State, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court did send audio message through your Android phone device to a group WhatsApp platform known as ‘Ekan Sons and Daughters’ and which went viral immediately after it was posted for the purpose of causing annoyance, insult, hatred and ill will toward the current 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.”
