Some Nigerians have called for the withdrawal of policemen from the residence of Seun Kuti, the popular Nigerian Afrobeat musician.
Leading the call is Kemi Olunloyo, the acclaimed international journalist, who tweeted “Nigerian Police should WITHDRAW the siege on @RealSeunKuti’s residence. As a Community Activist DON’T REPEAT 1978. I was the 13yo who ended up in a hospital bed Mrs Funmilayo Kuti died in.
Olunloyo who is also a Doctor of Pharmacy and social activist further tweeted “My 8yo brother still paralyzed at 50yo. The Nigerian govt needs to leave Kuti family ALONE.”
She is not alone. Amarachukwu Chibueze Umendiego @AUmendiego also tweeted “This is so wrong, what kinda banana republic are we in?”
Maxs @JohnmarkMaxwell tweeted “The govt on their own hand are calling the worse kind of revolution that Africa have not witnessed.”
Recall that officers of the Nigeria Police Force on Friday stormed the house of Nigerian musician and Afrobeat singer Seun Kuti in an attempted arrest.
SaharaReporters learnt that the policemen stormed the residence in a desperate attempt to pick up the musician, but they met his absence, as he was on a routine morning radio show. The news outlet reported that a member of his family was arrested “for yet-to-be-ascertained reasons.”
This is coming about a week after Kuti was accused of firing a gun at a party at Ikeja on the 12th of December. According to Temitayo Ayetoto, a journalist who called him out on Twitter, Kuti, assaulted the car owners who parked indiscriminately on Osiyemi Street off Allen Avenue where he lives.
“He was mad that the party attendees littered the street where he obviously lives with their cars – a genuine concern (his gate was affected). There was a resident stranded in his car trying to access his compound but couldn’t,” Ayetoto wrote.
She continued: “Kuti continued to rage at other car owners until one of the organisers, MM, showed up. In the middle of the effort to pacify, one of the bouncers told Kuti to calm down. Next thing again, Kuti’s thugs rushed at the bouncer for such effrontery. That’s where the party scattered.
“This time around Kuti went into his compound and brought out a short black gun! He was attempting to cork it but paused again. I called my friend and said that we needed to leave immediately. I knew trouble was looming on a large scale when the guy who was earlier assaulted returned to the scene. Barely 30 minutes after we left, I got feedback from people at the party that there had been a gunshot, forcing everyone to scamper.”
Seun Kuti, the following day responded to the accusation saying gunshots were fired because his life was under threat.
According to Kuti, trouble broke out party-goers parked indiscriminately and blocked the entrance to his residence thereby impeding movement. Seun admitted he slapped the person who blocked his gate and this attracted the attention of the bouncers at the party.
Kuti said moments after, as he tried to drive away, a bouncer came to attack him and this degenerated to fisticuffs and gunshots.
The musician added, “He (bouncer) said he would treat my ‘f**k up. That was when the fight started and we didn’t need to pull guns on anybody because we beat them with our bare hands. Blood on their noses, tore their uniforms. They left our street naked.
“Yes there were gunshots because we have men. This is Allen. I didn’t come to your hood. You want to try rubbish in my hood. You threatened my life in my hood and don’t expect gunshots. Even if the Federal Government comes for me, if they don’t come with a warrant signed by a judge, it will be a shootout. I am saying this for the whole world to hear.”
