The Police Service Commission (PSC) has lauded the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, for giving the order to arrest Seun Kuti, the Afrobeat musician who assaulted a policeman on duty in a viral video.
The incident shows Kuti in a red shirt over a white pair of trousers slapping the police officer standing by a police van and repeatedly asking him, “you dey mad?” (are you insane?).
The PSC has issued a statement through its spokesperson, Ikechukwu Ani, quoting the commission’s Chairman, Solomon Arase, saying that regardless of the offense, nobody, including Kuti, has the right to assault a police officer on official duty.
Mr Arase also expressed dismay about Kuti’s audacity to slap a policeman, adding that Nigeria is not a Hobbesian state where might is right. He went on to say that “We must, as civilized people explore established channels of complaints against alleged infractions by law enforcement officials rather than this uncouth behaviour of assaulting the country’s symbol of authority.”
The PSC chairman enjoined the police to use the recent disturbing incident as a lesson to set an example that such behavior would never be tolerated in Nigeria, a country governed by laws, rules and regulations. He noted that it was regrettable that the police officers were now victims of the actions of some uncultured elites at a time when the Police Force management was dealing with officers who harassed, intimidated or assaulted civilians.
He implored all police officers to continue to respect the rights of the populace and to conduct themselves professionally in all their endeavors. The commission demanded that the culprit, Kuti, be arraigned and prosecuted promptly and that the matter should be followed to its logical conclusion to reassure the public of their confidence in the Nigeria Police.
NAN
