After listening to the audio of the poem that made Lai Mohammed order the arrest journalist-poet Rotimi Jolayemi, I have to say that this is not the kind of journalism anyone should practise.

Lai has no doubt gone too far, but Jolayemi called him “mad man, imbecile, animal”
1/4

He even abused the Minister’s father.

Journalism should be about presenting the facts and allowing the people judge or, when opinionating, doing it intelligently and decorously.

Name-calling and gutter language have no place in this noble profession.
2/4

Unfortunately, by ‘detaining’ Jolayemi for 17 days without charging him to court, as well as his brother, his wife (for eight days) and her brother, Lai has lost the public sympathy that should have come his way.
3/4

It can't be right to extrajudicially detain four people for one man’s offence; any perceived offender should be prosecuted only in line with extant laws.

Two wrongs don’t make a right.
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