…attacks Lagos PPRO for allegedly speaking with media
…vexed over client being kept for hours before writing statement
Juliana Francis
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, who is the lawyer for Afrobeat singer, Seun Kuti, has accused the Lagos State Police Command of denying his client’s wife access to feed her husband.
This was even as the lawyer accused and criticised the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Benjamin Hundeyin of sharing his supposed investigative findings with the media. A move, which Olumide-Fusika opined was unprofessional.
Olumide-Fusika, in a press statement, the second in less than 24 hours, said: “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. We await the next move of the Police on the allegation of crime against Mr. Seun Kuti.”
He was also not comfortable that police kept Seun Kuti waiting for long before taking his statement. The lawyer alleged that police, who had Seun Kuti in its custody since 8:am, did not attend to him until 8:PM, which is almost 12 hours.
His words: “Although he had been with the Police since 8:00 am on Monday 15th May 2023, Mr. Seun Kuti notes that it was at about 8:00 pm that day, after Mr. Benjamin Hundeyin had already completed and published his investigative report above, that he was asked to make a statement to the Police at the Force Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba.”
Below is the content of the press statement as released by Olumide-Fusika.
He writes: “Mr. Benjamin Hundeyin who goes by the formal title of Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, but apparently doubles as the Investigating Police Officer into the case of alleged assault of a policeman by my client, Mr. Seun Kuti, has issued 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.
“Mr. Seun Kuti is nevertheless not surprised that Mr. Benjamin Hundeyin chose instead to make his investigative report the subject of the 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 the 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,”
“Although he had been with the Police since 8:00 am on Monday 15th May 2023, Mr. Seun Kuti notes that it was at about 8:00 pm that day, after Mr. Benjamin Hundeyin had already completed and published his investigative report above, that he was asked to make a statement to the Police at the Force Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba.
“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’.”