By Ayo Onikoyi

While vehemently condemning assaulting an officer of the law, singer, Seun Oluyole, a k.a. Sean Dampte shares his own unpalatable experience in an encounter with some men of the Nigerian Police Force, saying some officers don’t always behave in a way that inspires trust or confidence in their capacity to serve and protect the Nigerian citizens.

In a video made by his team of the encounter, which has since gone viral, Dampte and four other artistes, in a convoy of three cars, were on their way to the Landmark Beach at Oniru on Friday, April 14, 2023 when they were stopped by police officers.

Instead of asking for the identities of the occupants of the cars, they were angrily ordered to come down from the vehicles and searched. With nothing found on them, the vehicle was also searched, ending with the discovery of an art knife Dampte had bought in Kenya during his Africa Tour 2023, in preparation for his London concert scheduled for September this year.

When the musician asked the officer to tell him why they were being stopped, the police officer became livid and threatened to put them in jail. When one of his team members wanted to make a call to an undisclosed individual, the angry officer went political, accusing Nigerian youths of blaming the police for complicity in the acclaimed unfair election general election.

The officer continued to shout and warned the musicians that more powerful Nigerians than Dampte were in jail and nothing would stop him from seeing them end up in jail, and that no amount of begging, while inside the four walls, would set them free.

Eventually, the musicians were allowed to go their way, while the knife, even with a receipt, was seized.

“ I’m not holding a brief for Seun Kuti but our officers don’t always behave in a way that inspires trust or confidence in their capacity to serve and protect the Nigerian citizens. Getting a developed Nigeria, making Nigeria great again starts with each one of us doing our bit.Yes, from the citizens to law enforcement to our politicians,” Dampte noted.

The artist who had just concluded his Eastern and Southern African tours, visiting Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe is preparing for the Ghanaian Tour as part of his West African tour as well as his upcoming album.