The police have released Lanre Shotunde, the Ogun State-based businessman who was arrested in place of Abiodun Thomas, his hunted Facebook friend.

FIJ learnt that the policemen were deployed to go after Thomas, a human rights advocate and nurse, on the orders of Kayode Egbetokun, the Inspector General of Police. To get her, they arrested Shotunde as a placeholder.

Shotunde told FIJ that he was released on bail at 8:01pm on Thursday, the day after he was handcuffed at the Lafenwa police station in Abeokuta and later detained at the Sango Police Station.

“They said they were going to take me to Abuja on Thursday morning. They said they did not have the money for a flight but that they were waiting for the directives from the IGP,” Shotunde told FIJ on Friday morning,

READ MORE: To Get Human Rights Advocate Wanted by IGP, Police Detain Her Facebook Friend

According to the businessman, one of the officers informed him around 6:48 pm that they got a directive from Abuja to release him on bail.

“The bail did not involve money, but I had to produce someone who could stand for me,” he confirmed to FIJ.

He said the police had asked him to produce Thomas after showing him a video where she blasted Seyi Tinubu, the son of President Bola Tinubu; Kayode Egbetokun, the Inspector General of Police; and Muyiwa Adejobi, the NPF’s public relations officer.

FIJ earlier reported that the police first arrested Shotunde’s mother and detained her at Lafenwa Police Station in Abeokuta when they could not find him. When Shotunde went there to know why, the police took him into custody and drove him to Sango station.

Meanwhile, FIJ heard that policemen were deployed to go after Thomas on the orders of IGP Egbetokun.

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The police are after Shotunde’s Facebook friend for at least one of these reasons: her previous posts condemning the police and the government, her role in the #EndSARS memorial and a recently resurfaced video clip of Tunji Akinosi, a politician who assaulted her for trying to hold him accountable for hitting a hawkerwith his SUV in May 2023.