Afrobeat musician, Seun Kuti, has been secretly moved by the Nigeria Police Force, Lagos State Command, to the Yaba Magistrate Court for arraignment without notifying his lawyers, according to insider details.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the motive behind this move is believed to be an attempt to get back at the musician.
Although Seun Kuti and his lawyers were already in court, the Police scheduled the Magistrate Court to begin sitting at 12 pm. Seun Kuti was arrested and handcuffed on Monday after slapping a police officer on duty, as captured in a viral video.
Seun Kuti, speaking through his lawyer, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, SAN, updated that he would “at the right time and place” defend himself against Hundeyin’s published “investigative findings.”
He criticised Benjamin Hundeyin, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, for not proceeding according to law by sending the file containing his investigation report for legal evaluation towards possible prosecution. Instead, Hundeyin chose to make his investigative report the subject of media publication, the lawyer accused.
This newspaper learnt that on Monday night, the police at the Lagos State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Panti, refused to grant Seun Kuti bail after their futile attempt to trick him into writing a statement that would implicate him in the case of an alleged assault on a police officer. The police claimed they were yet to conclude their investigation, rejecting the lawyer’s request to grant the musician bail.
The situation escalated when a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Femi Falana, one of the lawyers defending Seun, called the police commissioner to complain about the unruly behaviour of the officers, treatment of his client, and prevention of Olumide-Fusika from being present during the musician’s interrogation.
It is also learnt that the police officers at the facility continued to be hostile to Seun, his lawyers, and his family members.
