Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, a lawyer for the Afrobeat star arrested for assaulting a police officer, Seun Kuti, has reported that her client was being mistreated by the police.
The lawyer, in a statement on Tuesday, accused police of starving his client to death for refusing to give his statement.
The Grammy-nominated saxophonist turned himself in to police in Lagos on Monday after video surfaced showing him assaulting a police officer. official.
“The consequence of this for Mr. Seun Kuti was that his wife was denied the ‘privilege’ of delivering a meal to him on the evening of Monday, May 15, 2023, despite the fact that there was no other arrangement for him to receive it. they will feed”. he said.
refusal to give statement
The lawyer said Kuti refused to give a written report of the altercation with the police officer because the police had published their findings on the matter without his opinion.
Mr. Olumide-Fusika accused Lagos State Police Spokesman Benjamin Hundeyin of acting as the “Investigating Police Officer in the case of an alleged assault on a policeman by my client Mr. Seun Kuti ” and to issue a “report on their research work.”
“Mr. Seun Kuti would have expected that having completed his investigative work, Mr. Benjamin Hundeyin, a law enforcement officer, would proceed in accordance with the law by submitting the file containing his investigative report for legal evaluation to a possible prosecution,” the statement read.
“Sir. However, Seun Kuti is not surprised that Mr. Benjamin Hundeyin chooses to make his investigative report the subject of media release, such as in Punch’s online post on Monday, March 15.” May 2023 titled “Assault: Seun Kuti apologized, gave policeman ₦12,000 to repair vehicle, police say.”
“According to Mr. Benjamin Hundeyin, in his investigative report delivered to The Punch,
“Seun Kuti was the one who hit the officer’s vehicle, and the cop followed him to get his attention, but the musician got out of his car and slapped the cop as seen in the trending video. However, the officer reported the incident to the Police Command in Ikeja.”
“The policeman was alone. After the altercation, he followed Seun Kuti to his home in Ikeja, and the musician apologized to the policeman and gave him ₦12,000 to repair his broken-down vehicle.
“But the officer reported the incident to the F Area Police Command in Ikeja and deposited the ₦12,000 on the counter while giving a written statement about the incident.”
The lawyer said his client had been with the police since 8 a.m. Monday, but was asked to make a statement to the police at the state CID, in Panti, Yaba, around 8 p.m. “after Mr. Hundeyin had already completed and published his previous investigative report. .
“Mr. Seun Kuti has therefore offered his interlocutors a statement to the effect that since Mr. Benjamin Hundeyin has already conducted the investigation and issued and published his report on it, none of his statements served any purpose. useful.
“He will, at the right time and place, and in the most rigorous manner possible under the law, defend himself against the ‘investigative findings’ published by Mr. Hundeyin.”
Contacted for a response, police spokesman Mr Hundeyin could not be reached by phone, however a text message was sent to him.
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Meanwhile, the police had previously explained why Mr. Kuti was handcuffed after turning himself in.
Responding to a query via Twitter on Monday, Hundeyin said the singer was handcuffed because the law allows it.
“Because the law empowers us to put handcuffs on any suspect who has shown a propensity for violence and a propensity to evade justice,” Hundeyin said.
After the altercation with the officer yet to be identified, the singer turned himself in at the Ikeja police command in Lagos in the company of his lawyer and a relative.
He was later arrested, handcuffed and taken to the State Criminal Investigation Department in Panti, Yaba area of Lagos. Police said he will face trial once the investigation is complete.
Lawyer reacts
A human rights lawyer, Ubani, speaking to Newslodge on Tuesday, criticized police for handcuffing the singer and displaying him “as a common criminal.”
“You declared that someone wanted to and the person turned himself in voluntarily and there was no manifestation of violence when he came, there was no discussion,” he said.
“What were you trying to do by handcuffing him? What they did was simply dehumanize the individual.”
The lawyer said that the police, as a law enforcement agency, should not do things that are against the law.
However, Mr. Ubani also condemned the singer’s action.
“I am totally against what I saw in the video that Seun made of assaulting a police officer, I condemn him completely unequivocally.
“No one has any right to attack anyone, whether it is a police officer attacking a civilian or a civilian attacking a police officer.”