Tobias Sylvester
Lagos State Police Command has reportedly refused to grant the bail application of Afrobeat star, Seun Kuti.
KanyiDaily had published a viral video showing the moment Seun Kuti assaulted and slapped a police officer on Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos.
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba ordered the arrest of the musician and also directed that a probe be carried out to ascertain the facts of the case.
It was gathered that policemen stormed Kuti’s Lagos resident on Saturday night and Sunday morning to arrest him, but did not meet him.
After reportedly going into hiding, Seun Kuti turned himself in to the police on Monday morning, accompanied by his lawyer and a family representative.
He was arrested, handcuffed by the police and moved to the State Criminal Investigation Department, popularly known as Panti, in Yaba, Lagos State.
According to SaharaReporters, the police turned Seun’s visit in company with his lawyer, Olumide-Fusika, into a public spectacle, subjecting the embattled musician to mockery and taunting by hundreds of officers as he walked by.
Meanwhile, the Lagos police commissioner, Idowu Owohunwa, was noticeably absent for a significant portion of the incident.
Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and one of Seun’s lawyers, had to contact the police commissioner to complain about the officers’ unruly behavior and the prevention of Olunide-Fusika from being present during his clien’t interrogation.
Police sources at Panti told SaharaReporters on Monday night that the policemen at the facility continued to be hostile to Seun, his lawyers and his family members.
They reportedly chased away Seun’s wife when she brought him food, subjecting her to derogatory remarks after calling her all sorts of names and threatening to arrest her as an accomplice.
Olunide-Fusika was said to have asked the police to grant the musician bail but the request was rejected under the pretext that they were yet to conclude with their investigation.
This was after their alleged futile attempt to trick Seun into writing a statement that would implicate him in the case of an alleged assault on a police officer.
The source police the publication that Seun refused to make any written statements when the police promised him bail if he would admit to “being provoked” to assault the police officer in question.
“The police at SCIID unsuccessfully tried to trick him to write a statement that would implicate him in the alleged assault on a police officer on Sunday in Lagos. He didn’t budge at all.
“His counsel, Adeyinka Olunide-Fusika, a senior lawyer, talked to the police to grant him bail but they rejected the request and claimed that they were yet to conclude their investigation,” one of the sources told SaharaReporters on Monday night.
Meanwhile, Seun Kuti has debunked reports that he gave the policeman in question money to fix his car after the ‘assaulted’ police officer trailed him home.
