The lawyer accused the police spokesperson in Lagos State Benjamin Hundeyin of doubling as the “Investigating Police Officer into the case of alleged assault of a policeman by my client, Mr. Seun Kuti” and issuing a “report of his investigative work.”
By Jeffrey Agbo
Police in Lagos arraigned Afrobeat singer Seun Kuti on Tuesday, May 16 before Magistrate Adeola Olatunbosun of a Magistrate’s Court sitting in Yaba.
Seun was charged with assault on a police officer, an offense contrary to Section 356 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act.
The prosecutor S. A Adebese prayed the court to remand the defendant for 21 days pending legal advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions.
But Seun’s lawyer Femi Falana urged the court not to grant the prosecution’s wish, stating that he was not aware of the remand application.
As of the time of filing this report, the court had gone on recess for the magistrate to study the case file.
Seun Kuti was arrested and detained on Monday after he turned himself in at the Command’s headquarters in Ikeja.
The singer slapped a police officer in uniform on Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos on Saturday. A video of the incident went viral.
Seun, son of the legendary Fela Kuti, said he has evidence the police officer “tried to kill” him and his family.
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Just before his arraignment, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, Seun’s lawyer, alleged the police were starving his client.
In a statement on Tuesday, the lawyer said Seun was being starved over his refusal to volunteer his statement.
“The consequence of this for Mr Seun Kuti was that his wife was refused the ‘privilege’ of delivering a meal to him in the evening of Monday May 15, 2023, even though there was no other arrangement in place to have him fed,” his lawyer said.
Olumide-Fusika said Seun declined to give a written report of the altercation with the police officer because the police had published their findings on the matter without his input.
He accused the police spokesperson in Lagos State Benjamin Hundeyin of doubling as the “Investigating Police Officer into the case of alleged assault of a policeman by my client, Mr. Seun Kuti” and issuing a “report of his investigative work.”
The lawyer noted that Seun will at the right time and place defend himself against Hundeyin’s published ‘investigative findings.’”