Mrs Dorcas Jolayemi, the wife of a journalist detained for criticising Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has accused the operatives of the Kwara State Police Command of bugging her phone and raining insults on her.

Mrs. Dorcas further said the police detained her for eight days, adding that during that period she was rendered incommunicado without access to a lawyer nor communication with her son.

WuzupNigeria reports that Mrs Dorcas’ husband, Rotimi Jolayemi, had written a poem and recited the same on social media in criticism of Mr Lai Mohammed. Angered by the poem, the minister had allegedly ordered Rotimi’s arrest.

In a bid to nab Mr Rotimi, the police in Kwara went on an arrest spree, taking Mrs Dorcas into custody and keeping her for eight days. The police also arrested Mr Rotimi’s younger brother, one Mr Joseph Jolayemi, on April 28. His phone too had allegedly been bugged. One John Jolayemi, an elder brother to Mr Rotimi, was also arrested.

The trio would be released when Mr Rotimi, accompanied by a lawyer, presented himself at the police station a week later.

After their release, Mrs Dorcas said they were hospitalised for almost a week with bouts of malaria.

Narrating her ordeal in a The Punch Newspaper interview, Mrs Dorcas said:

“On April 29, 2020, policemen came to my house in Ilorin, Kwara State, but I was not at home. I had gone to visit my brother-in-law. I was told that when they realised I was not at home, they came to my brother-in-law’s house in a Hilux van. They were about four policemen altogether. They said they had come to arrest me and I stood up. They kept asking me where my phone was and I told them it was with my son.

“They said I must follow them to their station with my phone. Eventually, I got the phone and we left. 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.

“They asked me when last I spoke with my husband and I told them I spoke with him in the morning. They said they wanted to arrest my husband and he fled to Maro in Kwara State. They said I was the one who advised him to run away and switch off his phone. They played a recording of my phone conversation with my husband.

“Apparently, they had bugged my phone and that of my husband. I admitted that, indeed, I told my husband to run away, but it wasn’t a crime because I didn’t harbour him. I only asked him not to come home, which is what a typical wife would do. I heard the police wanted to arrest him and I didn’t know the reason why they wanted to arrest him. I told him to run away because I wanted him to be safe. They said for that, I would pay for it. 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.”

She added,

My husband’s younger brother, Mr Joseph Jolayemi, was arrested on April 28. He was arrested because of my husband. At the time of his arrest, he was accused of possessing a stolen cell phone. However, on getting to the SCID, he was interrogated. 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.