One day after he regained his freedom, Afrobeat musician, Seun Kuti, has travelled to Switzerland where he will be commencing a summer tour in Europe.
Kuti had spent closebto week in the custody of the Nigeria Police Force, Lagos State command following his arrest for assaulting a policeman.
Kuti has now left for Zurich for an earlier planned summer tour expected to start Thursday. He had missed an earlier one scheduled for Spain due to his detention.
Kuti left for Switzerland on Air France with his band members at 11 pm Nigerian time.
Kuti’s trial at the Yaba Magistrate’s Court was adjourned to July 3 following a minor drama at the court on Wednesday, as the Nigeria Police’s effort to charge musician Seun Kuti afresh for assault was blocked by human rights attorney, Femi Falana (SAN).
Falana raised two critical legal objections before Chief Magistrate, Adeola Olatubosun. First, he noted that the police were just presenting the fresh charges to him in court instead of the 48 hours prescribed by law and therefore failed to provide the defendant with adequate time to prepare his defence.
Second, following the Chief Magistrate’s order that the case file should be sent to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, Falana described the police prosecutor’s latest effort as contemptuous of the court order.
The Chief Magistrate ordered the police to seek DPP’s legal advice on May 16 2023, but the police refused to adhere to the order.
Falana told the court that they can’t prosecute unless they appeal the judge’s order.
Seun’s lawyers said the purpose of Tuesday’s sitting was to receive the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions’ (DPP) advice.
The legal team on Tuesday said, “The Court, as you will recall, had ordered that the prosecution of the case must be by the DPP’s office and not by the Police, hence the Police were also ordered to send the case file to the DPP for evaluation and decision as to prosecution.”
- with reports from Omohglobalnews
