Afrobeat musician Seun Kuti has explained his side of the story concerning his assault of Ikeja party-goers and gun possession he was accused of; revealing that his life was first threatened by a bouncer.
Seun Kuti revealed in a video on Instagram that he pulled a gun after trying to defend his residential neighbourhood from the encroaching establishments and their parties.
The singer started the video talking about how his neighbourhood, which he has lived in since 2009; is being gentrified by hotel owners. According to him, this influx of hotels into the formerly residential neighbourhood is making the area uncomfortable for families.
“It’s like we are prisoners in our own homes,” Kuti said, complaining about strangers’ parked cars blocking the gates of his street in Allen, Ikeja. He called the hotel owners “selfish inconsiderate bastards”; complaining that because of the noise coming from these establishments, he has been unable to sleep.
Kuti says the Facebook hangout at which he assauted guests, started at 9AM. And to escape the noise, he decided to leave his house; only to find himself unable to because of the many cars parked on his street.
According to the thread below, Seun Kuti and his friends assaulted party-goers on his street. Eyewitness accounts say that not only did he and his thugs assault party-goers; he also called them gluttons and fired a gun multiple times. These accounts reveal Kuti’s actions to be disturbing and shameful at best considering his vocal stand against brutality.
Click out the thread below for one account:
Kuti gave a different account of the previous day than what witnesses reported on Twitter. He called the tweets lies and half-truths. Kuti says following the event, his neighbours thanked him for his actions. However, his story seemed to corroborate many of their points.
According to him, he was trying to leave his house to escape the noise of the nearby party but was blocked in by a car belonging to one of the guests at said party.
Kuti says upon calling for the car to be removed, an argument ensued and admitted to slapping the car owner. After the situation calmed down and the car owner was driving his car out of the way, Seun Kuti alleges that the bouncer from the party threatened his life.
Kuti says the bouncer promised to “f*ck him up” or “treat his f*ck up”, adding that he knew where to locate him. Seun Kuti says he and his guys “did not need guns because we were beating them with our bare hands, tore all their uniforms”.
He then admitted to pulling out a gun. Kuti said, “Yeah, there was gunshot because men dey. You wan try rubbish say gunshot no go sound? You threaten my life for my hood?”
Kuti then said he was not going to get arrested without an arrest warrant with a judge’s signature on it; if not “na shootout”.
Watch the full video below:
Do you think there is any justification for the acts of violence that Seun Kuti committed yesterday? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.