According to the source, they have subjected him to inhumane treatment because he criticised the Nigerian police for brutalising Nigerians.
The family of popular Nigerian TikToker, Olumide Ogunsanwo, widely known as Seaking, has raised the alarm over the “inhumane treatment suffered by the content creator while in police custody”.
The family alleged that the TikToker was subjected to physical abuse, denied adequate food and water, and kept in deplorable conditions that have led to his deteriorating health.
One of the family members of the TikToker told SaharaReporters on Monday that police personnel have been hostile towards him.
According to the source, they have subjected him to inhumane treatment because he criticised the Nigerian police for brutalising Nigerians.
The source said, “The policemen are very hostile to him, the IPO refused to let me speak with him. Seaking has been thoroughly humiliated in police custody.
“He looks so unkempt. Lagos police have been maltreating him badly.”
Another source revealed that they got a hint that Seaking was arrested and detained on the orders of Nigerian police spokesperson, Olumuyiwa Adejobi.
According to the source, the police officer is punishing the TikToker for speaking against the police and calling on Nigerians to attack them.
“They’ve been moving him up and down. The IPO in charge of Seaking’s case refused to attend to us. I got a hint that the directive came from Muyiwa Adejobi, Force PRO in Abuja. And that he is the one to give directive on what is to be done,” the source said.
“They’re all saying that he wants to kill policemen.”
Seaking was arrested on Saturday shortly after he made a video where he criticised the police and urged Nigerian youths to assault any police officer who misbehaves towards them or asks for the mobile phone.
“Nigerian youths, any police wey stop you for road wey harass you, wey ask you for your phone, make una beat am. Yes, make una start to dey beat them. If they like make the police be 20 years old or 85 years old, make una beat am, make e no fit stand up. Make una stone them; e no go better for them (Nigerian youths, beat up any police officer who harasses you on the road or asks for your phone. Yes, let us start to be beating them, whether they are 20 years old or 85 years old).
“Aura for aura; strength for strength. Enough is enough. If you una like, dey look like mumu. If them born you well, Inspector General of Police make una send am to all una police (If you like, act like a dunce when they harass you. I dare the Inspector General of Police to send my picture with their stations).
“Anywhere them see me, make them pass their boundary. I go f*** una up, e no go better for una. Nigerian youths, anywhere you see wey harass you, make una beat them. It is time for war. Make we do the same thing wey dem dey do, make we who go lose. Any police wey pass em boundary, make una flog am. E no go better for them (Anywhere they see me, if they misbehave, I will deal with them. Let us retaliate what they have been doing to us and let us see who will lose).”
SaharaReporters had reported that Adejobi said that hurling insults at someone online is not merely a form of criticism or freedom of expression, but rather an act of cyberbullying, which it described as a criminal offence.
The Force spokesperson said this in the wake of a recent case involving a viral post by activist Olamide Abiodun Thomas.
Thomas, who was protesting the police’s use of tear gas during the fourth anniversary of the #EndSARS protests in Abuja, recorded a video following which she was accused of insulting the President’s son, Seyi Tinubu, as well as Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun and police spokesman Muyiwa Adejobi.
Reacting to Seaking’s arrest report, human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, who had challenged Adejobi to provide constitutional provisions to justify that hurling insults at someone online is a crime, condemned the action of the police.
Calling for information on his whereabouts, Inibehe said, “Anyone with useful information about his family or the police station he was taken to should kindly contact me.”
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