A Nigerian Disc Jockey, The Turnup Maestro, identified on X as #_djtrendy, has narrated his ordeal on how he was taken to the Kirikiri Custodian Centre in Lagos State.
Recounting his experience via his X handle on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, the DJ stated that his ordeal started on Sunday, July 7, 2024, when some operatives of the Lagos State Police Command attached to the Olosan Police Station arrived at the lounge where he works.
He noted that upon their arrival, the security men chased the customers away from the lounge and seized his laptop.
He added that two days later, the lounge’s manager and the wife of the lounge’s owner (names unknown) went to the police station to claim the laptop and the manager called him that his presence was needed at the station before the laptop could be released.
He wrote, “On Sunday, July 7, 2024, the Olosan Police Station came to the lounge I DJ, pursued all customers and my laptop was taken in the process. I was just coming out of the restroom when this happened.
“So fast forward to Tuesday, July 9, the lounge manager and the lounge owner’s wife went to the police station to claim the laptop that was taken. The manager put a call through to me, telling me the police said they want to see me before they release the laptop to them, so I went to meet them.”
When he (the DJ) arrived at the station, he said the Divisional Police Officer asked that he write a statement before which he was labelled a cultist and put behind the counter, alongside the lounge’s manager.
“Immediately I got to the station, the DPO called one of his officers to take me in and take my statement. That’s how I got to the IPO’s office, then he started telling me that I’m a cultist, that I was playing for cultists, and that when they came to the said lounge, they saw people smoking and all.
“He then proceeded to give me a sheet of paper to write everything I knew.
“Well, I wrote how everything happened. A few minutes later, my lounge manager came in too, that’s how they said I’m done with mine and they told the manager to write his own too. I was behind the counter at this point helpless,” the tweets added.
The disc jockey stated that he and the manager “were detained” and put in a cell at the station on Tuesday as they remained incommunicado.
The following day, Wednesday, July 10, they were released and ordered to remain behind the counter.
However, in a turn of events, they were later put in handcuffs and taken to a Magistrate Court in the Ogba area of the state.
The tweets read further, “They put us in a cell that Tuesday. We couldn’t reach out to anyone, we were not even allowed to make contact with the lounge owner’s wife. Fast forward to the second day, July 10, we were released and the IPO told us to sit at the back of the counter.
“A few minutes later, he called us into his office and handcuffed us, then told us to go into the minivan parked in the police compound. They started driving and we were continuously asking where he was taking us. He didn’t answer. That’s how we got to the Magistrate Court at Ogba.
“Handcuffed, we were able to whisper our lounge owner’s number to one of the lawyers that was around us. We were helpless. We only went to the police station to collect the laptop but instead, they peddled us like criminals. So the lawyer was able to call our lounge owner and he came in with the lawyer just a few minutes before our case was called.”
The DJ claimed that the policemen had “written false allegations” against them but the presiding judge (name unknown) granted them bail.
Afterwards, they were taken to the Kirikiri Correctional Facility before their release two days later.
He wrote, “They had already written false allegations against us. All of the allegations they wrote were completely false. So the judge made her judgment. We were placed on bail but our lounge owner couldn’t perfect the bail that day.
“That’s how were were taken to the Kirikiri Prison on that day, July 10, 2024. We spent two days at Kirikiri correctional facility and we were released on Friday, July 12 after he perfected the bail. My laptop is still at the Olosan Police Station.
“I have always lived my life fight-free, crime-free. I have never broken a law before. The police that was supposed to protect me lied against me. I am very traumatised.”
In another follow-up tweet, the disc jockey wrote, “I have been crying for days. No one deserves to be going through something like this. I didn’t do anything wrong. I am a law-abiding citizen. I don’t deserve this pain they caused me.”
When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, did not respond to phone calls nor text messages sent to his mobile number when filing this report.