By Dele Ade
The Nigerian Navy on Wednesday said one of its staff, Abdulgafar Ahmed Oluwatoyin, professionally known as Cute Abiola, who was rumoured to have been missing, is under detention.
It would be recalled that the Instagram comedian was declared missing by his fellow comedian, Mr Macaroni, who shared the news on his official Twitter account and attached a screenshot of the WhatsApp message he received.
It said Cute Abiola had been detained on the orders of the Nigerian Navy Headquarters and the last time Cute Abiola’s wife and associates heard from him was on November 15.
However, the Nigerian Navy inpress release said he was arrested and not missing.
They noted that the Instagram skit maker is currently under investigation for breaching the Armed Forces social media rule policy in the use of social media platforms.
According to the statement titled, ‘Cute Abiola is not missing-Navy’ and signed by Commodore, Suleman Dahun“.
Part of the release read: “The attention of the Nigerian Navy has been drawn to an online newstory which claims that a naval personnel, OSCOMP Abdulgafar AA, who incidentally is a popular comedian known as Cute Abiola, has gone missing.
“The Nigerian Navy wishes to categorically debunk this false news report currently trending online.
“OSCOMP Abdulgafar is currently under custody in his unit for breaching the Armed Forces Social Media Policy and refusal to obey particular orders. The Nigerian Navy wishes to avail itself this incident to remind its personnel to comply with the provisions of the Armed Forces Social Media Policy in their usage of social media platforms.
“The Policy, amongst others, is emplaced to protect their personal safety and security as well as the information integrity of the activities of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.”