Seun Kuti Exposes Lifestyle of Celebrities in Prison, Recalls Experience: “They See You Finish Then”
Seun Kuti has opened up about his prison experience more than a year after he was arrested and detailed by the police.
The young Nigerian Afrobeat singer Seun Kuti, the son of Fela Kuti, recently described his terrible experience in a police detention. His thinking has brought a lot of conversations on social networks addressing issues such as the brutality of celebrities and the situation in Nigerian prisons.
Kuti was arrested in May 2023 according to an incident of the alleged attack of a police officer at Lagos Third Mainland Bridge, which had surfaced online. But Kuti, who was already famous at this point, denies ever enjoying special privileges while in jail. He was detained together with other prisoners, thieves, and killers in a small, grim cell that could only accommodate thirty men while it was designed to accommodate no more than three. Apparently, the conditions prevailing at the time he described the heat as being unendurable for the first instance and bad light, and bad smells were also beyond tolerance in the first instance, although the objection seems to have faded away with time.
Kuti’s observations also included this false premise that celebrities have better conditions when they are incarcerated. He said that whereas some are locked in offices or isolated, most are subjected to the same ordeal as other prisoners. He has used his time in prison to call for the reformation of prisons and criminals, saying that people convicted and sent to jail should still be accorded their rights to be treated like humans. He openly rebuked the authorities of the Nigerian prisons and urged them to start contemplating serious changes where every prisoner deserves decent treatment no matter the crime he committed.
He also rejected some myths about his stay in prison, for example, that he was beaten or he beat his wife. Kuti noted that yes, there were dangers, but he clarified that no one assaulted him physically while in detention. This revelation has generally drawn reactions on social media and with his depiction of the prison atmosphere, people have especially praised him for his guts in coming out to reveal the awful experiences as well as others condemning him and his stand.
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