Police Assault: Nigerians Should Thank God Seun Kuti’s Body Didn’t End Up In ‘Third Mainland Bridge Waters’, Says Police Commissioner
The Kogi State Commissioner of Police, CP Hakeem Adeshina Yusuf, has issued a death threat in response to a comment on Afrobeat singer Seun Kuti’s arrest by the Nigeria Police.
This was evident in the police commissioner’s Facebook comment on Monday morning, when he was reacting to a user who shared a post from a former presidential adviser, Reno Omokri, on the matter.
Seun Kuti was arrested and handcuffed last Monday following his visit to the state police command after a viral video captured him slapping a police officer in Lagos. The police continued to keep him in detention as they desperately search for evidence to nail him for another offence.
Last week, Naija News House reported how the police searched Seun Kuti’s house and attempted to search his car. They also moved to take his blood sample to carry out a drug test but this failed when the doctors insisted that they would not take his blood sample without his permission.
The musician had kept to his word that he would cooperate with the police by turning himself in to cooperate with investigations into the allegation that he assaulted a policeman as captured in the viral video.
In response to the incident, Reno Omokri described the scenario as institutional bias on the part of the Nigeria Police Force towards the music star, saying that all of the punishments Seun had received demonstrated that the police had been malicious in their handling of his case.
“When the Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Yunusa Ari, disappeared, did the police invade his house? Yet, even after Seun Kuti surrendered himself to the police, they handcuffed him, paraded him like a common criminal, and raided his home. All because he slapped a policeman, which is, at worse, a misdemeanour. This looks like malice. This looks like institutional bias,” Reno had said.
Responding to a snapshot of Reno’s post uploaded by a Facebook user, Adekunle Adeyemi Taofeek, CP Hakeem Adeshina Yusuf stated that all Seun was going through in police detention was fair because his body was not being searched for in a river or other water bodies after allegedly slapping a police officer.
“Come and slap police also. Thank God, his body was not being looked for in the third mainland bridge waters,” the police commissioner said.
A Twitter user, @Scotty_Aluta described the police commissioner’s comment as evidence that Nigerians are not safe anytime they are dealing with the security operatives.
He said, “This is coming from a whole commissioner of police! That is exactly what @RealSeunKuti avoided by slapping the police officer! Our safety is not guaranteed by people who are meant to protect us! @Princemoye @PoliceNG @YeleSowore CP Akeem Adeshina Yusuf comment pose a threat.”
