By Nkereuwem Udofia Akpan
Firstly, let me thank God that we are not planning the funeral of Seun Fela Kuti at this moment. Actually, in other ages and times in our recent history, the scenario that would have played out would have been rather grim.
SEUN KUTI is the most lucky of the Kuti family of three generations going back to the 60s and 80s. When his famous grandmother was brutally assaulted and thrown out of the top floor window by rogue soldiers during the military regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo, the poor old lady didn’t do anything untoward or take matters into her own hands. When Seun’s father, our own beloved Abami Eda, the Afro music grand master himself was routinely arrested, brutalised, and incarcerated, Fela never took matters into his hands by assaulting anyone. Imagine that Seun had thrown such a tantrum back in the day, he would have been long forgotten. So yes, he is the luckiest of his clan.
I AS HE ESCAPED BEING SHOT during THE ASSAULT on a law officer, we should commend the POLICE OFFICER involved and call on the IGP to promote him 2 STEPS AT LEAST.
Now having said that, let me say that I watched with dismay a viral video of Seun, son of our Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti, violently assaulting a policeman on the streets of Lagos. I understand his wife and kids were in the car watching the conduct of their husband and father. I usually try to avoid being drawn into people’s private lives but this one is one that is no more a private matter as it involves the policeman in uniform in the full glare of the public.
Let me also say this right away, elsewhere on planet Earth, even in the so-called advanced nations, Seun Kuti would have been shot dead if that drama had played out anywhere in the USA, UK, or continental Europe. That Seun escaped to tell the story has both positives and negatives at the same time.
Let me start with the positives. Of course, human life is precious and whenever or however it’s preserved must be celebrated. Today Seun would have been just another part of the frightening statistics of decomposing bodies in the morgue and awaiting postmortem and funeral. There will be debates, lawyers will argue on both sides, committees would be set up, white papers would have been released but none of those would have brought him back to life.
The second positive we must acknowledge is the courage of that Policeman who had uncommon restraint and unparalleled candour and decorum in the face of that beastly, cowardly, and totally unjustified attack despite such violence unleashed on his person. Thirdly the officers who witnessed the event must be commended for exercising restraint and not rushing to subdue Seun, which was surprising anyway.
Finally on the positive is to commend the Police high command for the good work they are doing in order to instill discipline in the rank and file, including officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force.
Having said that let me look at the flip side of that coin. Firstly, Seun Kuti just cheated death by the whiskers and is extremely lucky to be alive. Others were not so lucky. People who have been gunned down in cold blood in the recent past never had the effrontery or temerity to assault a policeman. To talk about ‘Human Rights’ tongue in cheek while trampling on the rights of others is truly disconcerting and hypocritical. Your right to thump your nose or stretch your arms stops where the next man’s elbow is. It was truly annoying watching Seun ranting about ‘Human Rights’ when he was clearly the aggressor and assailant. We should apportion blames justly no matter whose ox is gored. Seun truly went overboard and we all must condemn him.
Furthermore, its foolhardiness and indeed pure insanity, to attack an armed Policeman or other law enforcement personnel in the name of Human rights.
I say so because, under our body of laws, the right to life is secured and provided for under section 33(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). This right is so important that it is number one of the entire bundle of rights known as Fundamental Rights – which bundle of Rights is secured and contained in Chapter IV of our Constitution.
For the avoidance of doubt let me categorically state that the right to life is not absolute but can be lawfully denied, cut short, or dispensed with in certain instances and it would be perfectly and legally in order Section 33(2) of the 1999 Constitution provides a string of exceptions to that general rule in section 33(1) on the sanctity of human life and the circumstances under which a citizen may be lawfully deprived of his or her life. So legally you can be killed and nothing will happen to your killer.
A hangman putting a condemned man to death at the gallows or an executioner taking aim as part of a firing squad are obvious cases. One of the circumstances where someone can be killed lawfully is where the killer was trying ‘to prevent the person from committing a crime’ or in the defence of life or property’, which falls squarely into the category that played out in the Seun Kuti case.
If a trigger-happy policeman in the vicinity had shot at Seun so as to “prevent him from assaulting a colleague”, a close reading of the Constitution seems mostly like those live rounds would have been justified
Seun Kuti must understand that it’s not bravery to engage in such conduct and that the police will be happy to use him as a scapegoat after the humiliation of the #ENDSARS riots and he has himself to blame.
I think the policeman involved ought to be rewarded for his handling of the encounter and Seun Kuti must be punished to serve as a deterrent. Quite frankly he could have been dead.
Nkereuwem Udofia Akpan
Lex Consultes & Attorneys
Maitama, Abuja, Nigeria
Twitter @Chiefnkereuwem
