Seun Kuti, the embattled Afrobeats musician, is said to be struggling in jail at the State Criminal, Investigations, and Intelligence Department, SCIID, Panti, Yaba, Lagos, where he’s been anointed “General Overseer” after being remanded by a Yaba Chief Magistrate Court.
According to Vanguard, Seun was transported to the cell after the remand order was issued, where he joined other suspected offenders. The first shock was being commanded to remain standing by the convict commander, who had a gruff, deep baritone voice.
He was later rejected by other convicts, who began beating on their metal protective door, demanding that he be removed from the cell.
When the singer noticed that the police guards were paying little attention to him, he began bargaining with them. He allegedly contacted his wife for N25,000, which he then gave to the convicts’ commander.
After he gave over the money, the convicts welcomed him and offered him a seat. The act enraged Seun Kuti, who went on a hunger strike and refused meals handed to him by his wife. After a day and a half, he resumed eating.
The musician has supposedly been named General Overseer of the cell, and a bible has been given to him. According to the magazine, he conducts the convicts in prayer sessions whenever the need arises, after which they all chant, “GO, GO.”
Seun was spotted gripping the Bible tightly in his left hand while mounting the steps leading to the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge, Waheed Ayilara, when a journalist visited Panti at 2:30 p.m. yesterday, May 19. He was eventually escorted down the steps and back into the cell.