Seun Kuti, the Grammy-nominated Afrobeat artist and son of music legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, made headlines recently after a video of him assaulting a uniformed police officer went viral. In response to a commentator who supported Kuti’s action, the Kogi State Commissioner of Police, Akeem Yusuf, insinuated that the musician’s body could have ended up in the lagoon if not for divine intervention.
Following Kuti’s arrest and detention, Yusuf took to Facebook, using his moniker, Kimo Akeem, to state that Nigerians should thank God that the situation did not end tragically. “Come and slap police also. Thank God, his [Seun Kuti’s] body was not being looked for in the third mainland bridge waters,” Yusuf wrote.
The Commissioner of Police’s comment sparked controversy, with many Nigerians accusing him of insensitivity to police brutality and extrajudicial killings by security personnel in the country.
