The Nigerian Navy has finally set free popular Instagram comedian, Abdulgafar Ahmad, aka Cute Abiola, from detention.
Ireportnews can confirm that Cute Abiola was released today.
You may recall that Cute Abiola was said to have been missing on Monday, November 15, 2021, when his colleague in the comedy industry, Debo Adedayo aka Mr Macaroni, raised the alarm that he was nowhere to be found after reporting at his office in Navy Town, Lagos, that same day.
Two days after the alarm was raised, Debo had announced that the funnyman wasn’t missing but was detained for contravening the military laws by posting a video of himself in military uniform on social media, an act which is said to be in violation of the armed forces’ social media policy.
He added that the funnyman is no longer in the naval detention as he has been released to serve his punishment.
When the Nigerian navy eventually confirmed Cute Abiola’s arrest and detention on November 17, his fans believed that it was connected to an Instagram post he made on November 13.
Report has it that the popular comedian posted a video of himself clad in military uniform and wielding a gun. It was from one of his scenes in Funke Akindele’s comedy drama, ‘Jenifa’s Diary’.
He stated that the said video which many have been speculating as the reason for Cute Abiola’s ordeal, could not be a valid reason for the arrest.
He said: “The video many had assumed to be the reason for his arrest, was posted by the comedian on Sunday, November 13, while the comedian was arrested on Monday, November 14. This was after he received an order from his superiors at work the previous week.
His lawyer also opened up the circumstances surrounding the comedian’s arrest and continued detention.
He said: “Cute Abiola was on a one-week leave to attend to his personal issues, out of Lagos, when he was called by his superiors to resume at work”.
“Cute Abiola did not deliberately ignore the order by not terminating his leave. Instead, he waited and completed his one-week leave before he resumed”.
The lawyer also explained that in the said video, the comedian did not disregard the Nigerian Navy in any way.
” Cute Abiola wore an improvised police uniform and a toy gun in one of his scenes in Funke Akindele’s comedy drama, ‘Jenifa’s Diary’. It was not a naval uniform,” he added.
