•  Kwara State Police Command arrested Journalist, Rotimi Jolayemi was arrested for criticising Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed
• His wife, Mrs Dorcas Jolayemi who was initially arrested because her husband ran away recounts her ordeal in the police custody
• She also reveals she doesn’t know the whereabouts of her husband
• Lai Mohammed is currently trending on Twitter after the release of this information to the public

Mrs Dorcas speaking on how she fared during her time in the police custody after the police arrested her because her husband criticised Lai Mohammed, said she spent eight days there.

Speaking in an interview with Punch, she said her husband had written a poem criticising Nigeria’s Minister for information and culture, Lai Mohammed.

According to her, the police accused her of obstructing her husband’s arrest, telling him to run away when she heard the police was coming to arrest him.

She said the police came to her house on the 29th of April to arrest her but she was not at home. They then followed her to brother inlaw’s house where she was arrested.

They asked for her phone and that she must follow them to the station with her phone, which she did.

“On getting to the State Criminal Investigation Department, they began to interrogate me. They asked why I obstructed the arrest of my husband. I asked them what they meant by that,” she said.

She said they played a phone recording of her conversation with her husband where she was telling him to run away because the police were coming for him.

Obviously, the police had bugged her phone and that of her husband.

Mrs Dorcas said she admitted to the crime and that she only did that because she wanted her husband to be safe.

“I was brought before their boss and the man insulted me, calling me a stupid woman. He said I shouldn’t have advised my husband to run away.

“The man said I would pay for it and they took my statement. I was there from April 29 to May 6,” Mrs Dorcas continued.

Speaking on her husband’s crime, she said a recording of a poem was played to her which she confirmed was her husband’s voice.

In the poem, her husband, Mr Rotimi, was criticising Lai Mohammed and the police the asked her, ‘how could her husband be criticising Lai Mohammed’?

According to her, the police said ‘it was Lai Mohammed that ordered her husband’s arrest’.

Speaking of her experience in police custody, Mrs Dorcas said it was Horrible and that she was denied access to anyone.

“I wasn’t allowed to communicate with anybody. They didn’t let me speak with my son. I slept on the corridor of the toilet. The place was horrible.

“I couldn’t sleep most of the time because of mosquitoes. I would stay awake most nights to ward off the mosquitoes, she said.

According to Mrs Dorcas, some members of her family were also arrested on accusations of possessing a stolen phone.

However, on getting to the police station, they were interviewing him of her husband’s whereabouts.

“The police asked him questions about my husband. They subsequently played a phone conversation he had with my husband.

“It was obvious that his phone had also been bugged. My brother’s older brother, John Jolayemi, was also arrested, she revealed.

“When my husband finally presented himself a week later, we were released. He came with a lawyer. So we signed some documents.

I can’t really say what happened afterwards. I don’t know if the police were given money or not. My brothers-in-law may know.

Speaking on her state of health after her release, she said she and her in-laws spend about a week in the hospital.

Apparently, they had suffered from severe malaria resulting from their traumatic experience in addition to the serious mosquitoes bites they have suffered.

“The last time I saw or spoke to my husband was on May 5, 2020, the day he turned himself in at the SCID.

“On Thursday, which was May 7, he was taken to Abuja and since then, he has remained there.

“Sincerely, I don’t even know if he is alive or not because I have no access to him. Even his brothers are getting information about him from third parties.

“I don’t know whether he is sick or well. I worry about him every day.

“According to my brothers-in-law, they sent representatives to plead with Lai Mohammed to drop the case.

“They said the Oba of Ilala in Kwara State and some other traditional rulers had gone to the minister to plead with him, but he has refused to respond.

Some even went to the minister’s hometown in Oro to plead with elders in his community, but there has been no positive response.

Furthermore, she revealed that since her husband’s arrested, it has been her brother-in-law taking care of her and the children.

Lai Mohammed has been trending on Twitter following Mrs Dorcas’ revelation. They have been dragging the minister since then.