‘Assault’: Seun Kuti’s lawyers accuse police of flouting court order

Lawyers to Seun Kuti have accused the Lagos police of disobeying a court order by withholding the Afrobeat star’s case file.

Seun was recently arrested, detained, and arraigned after being filmed assaulting a police officer on the Third Mainland Bridge.

Adeola Olatubosun, chief magistrate of the court in Yaba, on Tuesday, directed the police to detain the musician for additional 48 hours and then release him on bail.

She also ordered that Seun’s file be duplicated and sent to the director of public prosecution (DPP) and subsequently adjourned to May 22, 2023.

But on Thursday, the magistrate extended Seun’s remand for additional four days to enable the police to continue with its investigation.

In a statement, the lawyers called on Simon Asamber Lough, the Lagos state deputy commissioner of police, to obey the order of the magistrate’s court and send Seun’s case file to the DPP.

In the statement signed by Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, the singer’s lead counsel, the police were also accused of creating a circus around the matter and making it that of a “national emergency”.

“Mr Kuti submitted himself to the Police so that he can go answer in court for the allegation of assaulting a policeman. It is the police who, rather than taking this simple and straightforward step, have decided to create a circus and make a national emergency of the matter,” the statement reads.

“Now that Mr. Kuti had been put in manacles and taken on parade from one police station to another, and from one location to the other across Lagos since Monday 15/5/2023, when exactly is he going to be charged for, as you put it in your statement,’ attacking and slapping a police officer in uniform’?

“Mr. Seun is patiently waiting to be charged to court for the alleged offence so that he can offer his defence. That should not be too much for a suspect to expect.

“I do hope that Lough as a lawyer, and indeed a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, counseling the Police in this matter, will obey the order of the Magistrate Court to send the case file to the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecution for legal evaluation and possible charge and prosecution before a court of law.”

According to Nigerian laws, Kuti could face up to three years in prison if convicted.