The lawyer says Seun Kuti declined to give a written statement because the police published their findings on his matter without his input.
Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, a lawyer of the afrobeat star detained for assaulting a police officer, Seun Kuti, has alleged that his client was being maltreated by the police.
The lawyer, in a statement on Tuesday, accused the police of starving his client over his refusal to volunteer his statement.
The Grammy-nominated saxophonist had on Monday surrendered himself to the police in Lagos after a video surfaced showing him assaulting a police officer.
"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," he said.
Refusal to give statement
The lawyer said Mr Kuti declined to give a written report of the altercation with the police officer because the police had published their findings on the matter without his input.
Mr Olumide-Fusika accused the police spokesperson in Lagos State, Benjamin Hundeyin, of doubling as the "Investigating Police Officer into the case of alleged assault of a policeman by my client, Mr. Seun Kuti" and issuing 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," the statement reads.
"Mr. Seun Kuti is nevertheless not surprised that Mr. Benjamin Hundeyin chose instead to make his investigative report the subject of 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 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."
The lawyer said his client had been with the police since 8 a.m. on Monday but was asked to make a statement to the police at the State CID, in Panti, Yaba around 8 p.m. "after Mr Hundeyin had already completed and published his investigative report above.
"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'."
Contacted for response, the police spokesperson, Mr Hundeyin could not be reached via telephone, however, a text message has been sent to him.
Meanwhile, the police had earlier explained why Mr Kuti was handcuffed after turning himself in.
While replying to an inquiry via Twitter on Monday, Mr Hundeyin said the singer was handcuffed because the law allows it.
"Because the law empowers us to place on cuffs any suspect who has shown propensity for violence and propensity for evading justice," Mr Hundeyin.
Following the altercation with the yet-to-be identified officer, the singer turned himself in at the Ikeja police command in Lagos in company of his lawyer and a relative.
He was subsequently placed on arrest, handcuffed and taken to the State Criminal Investigation Department at Panti, Yaba area of Lagos. The police said that he will face trial upon completion of their investigation.
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Lawyer reacts
A human right lawyer, Monday Ubani, speaking to PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday, knocked the police for handcuffing the singer and parading him "like a common criminal."
"You declared somebody wanted and the person willingly surrendered himself and there was no manifestation of violence when he came, there was no argument," he said.
"What were you trying to do by handcuffing him? What they did was just to dehumanize the individual."
The lawyer said the police as a law enforcement agency ought not to do things contrary to the law.
However, Mr Ubani also condemned the singer's action.
"I am totally against what I saw in the video that Seun did by assaulting a policeman, I condemn it totally unequivocally.
"Nobody has any right whatsoever to assault any person whether a policeman assaulting a civilian or a civilian assaulting a policeman."
