Nigerian musicians Omah Lay and Tems charged in Uganda, remanded
Nigerian singers Stanley Omah Didia alias Omah Lay and Temilade Openyi alias Tems, were on Monday charged with “negligently doing acts likely to spread infectious diseases” in Uganda.
Ugandan police arrested three Nigerian nationals together with four Ugandans on Sunday in connection with what police say was staging an ‘unauthorized concert’ on Saturday night at the Ddungu Resort in Munyonyo, Kampala.
They are said to have breached the Covid-19 Standard Operating Procedures laid out by government.
Images showed the artists performing to a huge attendance in the middle of the night.
“The Nigerian trio of Stanley Omah Didia alias Omah Lay, Temilade Openyi alias Tems and Muyiwa Awomiyi have been charged to court in Makindye on charges of Negligently doing acts likely to spread an infectious diseases C/S 171 of the Penal Code Act,” police said via their official Twitter handle.
https://twitter.com/PoliceUg/status/1338470938925527042?s=20
The seven individuals have been remanded until Wednesday.
“The earlier plans of releasing them on police bond were suspended after their casefile was sanctioned by the Office of the DPP. They were jointly charged with four other Ugandans. All remanded till Wednesday,” the police said.
Also arrested were Ivan Ddungu, the manager of the resort, and Prim Kasana, the events manager as well as the singers manager.
“Police is also looking for the area Officer in Charge of Police Station for failure to detect the criminal acts that took place in his area of jurisdiction,” police had said Sunday.
It is alleged that the organisers of the concert disguised that it was a lunch and dinner event, but later on at night they started inviting artists to perform.
The government of Uganda banned music concerts in the country as one of the measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the country.
The arrest was on the heels of a public outcry by Ugandan entertainers, who castigated the Police for allowing international artistes to hold concerts while the local ones are denied.
Omah Lay was reportedly taken to Kitalya prison, while his colleague Tems was taken to Kigo prison.