Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, lawyer of Afrobeat singer Seun Kuti, has alleged the police are starving his client.
In a statement on Tuesday, the lawyer said Seun was being starved over his refusal to volunteer his statement.
Seun on Monday surrendered himself to the police in Lagos after a video surfaced showing him assaulting a police officer.
“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.”
“Mr Seun Kuti would have expected that having completed his investigative work, Mr. Benjamin Hundeyin, a law enforcer, would proceed according to law by sending the file containing his report of investigation for legal evaluation towards possible prosecution,” the statement reads.
“Mr. Seun Kuti is nevertheless not surprised that Mr. Benjamin Hundeyin chose instead to make his investigative report the subject of media publication, as for instance, in the Punch online publication of Monday May 15, 2023 titled ‘Assault: Seun Kuti apologised, gave cop ₦12,000 to repair vehicle, police say.’
“According to Mr. Benjamin Hundeyin, in his investigative report handed over to The Punch, Seun Kuti was the one that bashed the officer’s vehicle, and the policeman followed him to call his attention to it, but the musician alighted from his car and slapped the policeman as seen in the trending video. However, the officer reported the incident at the Police Command in Ikeja.
“’The policeman was alone. After the altercation, he followed Seun Kuti to his home in Ikeja, and the musician apologised to the policeman and gave him ₦12,000 to repair his damaged vehicle.
“’But the officer reported the incident at the Area F Police Command in Ikeja, and deposited the ₦12,000 at the counter while he gave a written statement concerning the incident.'”
The lawyer said his client had been with the police since 8 a.m. on 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 investigative report above.”
He added, “Mr Seun Kuti has therefore volunteered to his interlocutors a statement to the effect that since Mr. Benjamin Hundeyin has already done the investigation and issued and published his report on it, there was no useful purpose to be served by any statement from him.
“He will, at the right time and place, and in as rigorous a manner possible under the law, defend himself against Mr. Hundeyin’s published ‘investigative findings.’”
