A former presidential spokesman Reno Omokri on Thursday claimed Afrobeat musician Seun Kuti suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following his family’s history with the police and military.
Seun is facing a charge of assault at the Yaba Magistrate’s Court for slapping a police officer in uniform on the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos on May 13.
He was remanded by the court on Tuesday for 48 hours to allow the police complete their investigation.
Mr Omokri shared on Twitter a photo of Seun in his childhood with his father Fela Kuti and said Seun’s action is condemnable but the police as an institution is as guilty as the musician for the assault on the police officer.
“What Seun did was wrong. And I condemn it. But Seun has a history with the police and the military that has scarred him for life. They beat his Septuagenarian grandmother and threw her from the first floor to the ground. She died from the injuries sustained. His father carried her coffin to Dodan barracks in tears! Till today, NOBODY was punished for the crime against Olufunmilayo Kuti,” the former media aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan said.
“They beat his father to an inch of his life. Multiple times. They burnt down their residence, with multiple vets and other property. They were never paid compensation. The police raided the shrine episodically, right from when Seun was a baby to his adulthood.
“And even in this incident involving the slap, there was provocation from the policeman. I am not saying that the provocation justified the slap. My motive is just to put things in context.
“What he did was condemnable. It is unacceptable. But when you look at his personal history, there are mitigating circumstances. And I beg the Inspector General of Police to take Seun’s Post Traumatic Stress Disorder into account. Because even Buhari’s wife, Aisha, admitted that her husband also suffers from PTSD due to his experience with the Nigerian state apparatus.”
Omokri added, “The police is as institutionally to blame for what happened to that policeman as Seun. Let us do story here and not just justice.”
