The Oyo State chapter of the AAC, led by Chairman Kayode Babayomi and Comrade Ismaeel Ogunsola, visited the Commissioner of Police to intervene in the case of TikToker Ogunjimi Florence, popularly known as IyaGhana. She was arrested on allegations of cybercrime for making and posting a video on TikTok in which she accused the Oyo State police of extortion and harassment of young people, particularly on the Eruwa-Igboora road where many young people have reported being extorted amounts ranging from 5,000 to 40,000 naira just for using the road.
In the viral video, IyaGhana rhetorically questioned if the police officers are not being paid their salaries, asking if this was the reason for their ongoing extortion efforts. Instead of investigating the police unit she was indicting, IyaGhana was promptly arrested and detained as of Tuesday, February 17th, first at the Area Command in Eruwa and later transferred to the Force Headquarters in Eleyele, Ibadan.
Following the AAC’s intervention on Thursday afternoon, she was granted administrative bail with the condition that she would return to the station the next morning as they prepared to charge her in court.
The AAC has condemned the continuous persecution of dissenting voices and vulnerable citizens who only use social media to express their struggles against the daily extortion and harassment by rogue officers on our roads. Everything Iyaghana mentioned in her viral video reflects the truth and daily reality of people in her community and across Nigeria. The police should redirect their efforts from persecuting individuals like her to investigating and retraining their officers, as well as combating crime throughout the state.
Kayode Babayomi
AAC chairman
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