Lawyers to embattled Afrobeat singer, Seun Kuti, have accused the police of disobeying a court order by withholding the artiste’s case file.
The lawyers called on the Lagos State Deputy Commissioner of Police, Simon Lough, to obey the order of a magistrate’s court to send the artiste’s case file to the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions for legal advice.
Seun, a son of the late Afrobeats legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, has been in police custody since May 15 for allegedly assaulting a police officer.
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The singer’s lead counsel, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, SAN, accused the police of creating a circus around the matter.
He said, “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.
“Now that Mr Kuti has been put in manacles and taken on parade from one police station to another and from one location to the other across Lagos State since Monday, May 15, when exactly is he going to be charged for, as you put it in your statement, ‘attacking and slapping a police officer in uniform?’”
The lead counsel said Kuti was patiently waiting to be charged so that he could offer his defence.
He added, “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 counselling the police on this matter will obey the order of the magistrate’s court to send the case file to the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions for legal evaluation and possible charge and prosecution before a court of law.”
On Thursday, Lough had accused Seun’s legal team of engaging in a media trial instead of letting the law take its course.
However, Olumide-Fusika debunked the claim, saying the singer’s team had never engaged in a “media trial or defence” of its client.
