Nigerian singer Tems recently shared her harrowing account of being arrested and confined to a cramped prison cell in Uganda. She recounted her experience in an interview with Angie Martinez.
Initially, when she was taken from her hotel, she thought it might be a prank. However, her perception quickly shifted when she was handed a foul-smelling, dirty prison uniform, and the harsh reality sank in. She feared for her life and safety.
Tems, a Grammy award-winning artist, described her prison cell as a tiny space with just a bare floor, a few blankets, and some tissues. For two long and grueling days, she was completely cut off from the outside world and had no knowledge of her whereabouts.
The moment she laid eyes on the repugnant prison uniform, she couldn’t hold back her tears. She held onto hope but had no certainty regarding when or if she would be released.
Tems also mentioned that she formed connections with other female inmates, many of whom were detained for minor infractions, some of which were the result of corruption among prison guards.
This distressing ordeal stemmed from an incident after a performance in Uganda on December 12, 2020 when Tems and another artist were accused of violating COVID-19 regulations.
In her words: “I thought I wasn’t gonna come out. I thought I was seeing it for a reason like maybe I was meant to help the people. I was settling in because I adapted real quick and as I was walking in I started to cry because they gave me my uniform and it stunk because they don’t wash it. It was a small room and there was nothing, there’s just the floor they give you blankets and tissues and you’re just on the floor, no bed and I did it for two days. I didn’t even know I was going to get out, I didn’t have any ears on the ground nobody told me anything. Outside everyone was like ‘free Tems, free Omah lay but inside I was just hopeful, waiting.”