Police threaten to shut African shrine over political movement’s launch

The police threatened to shut down African Shrine if the promoters of The Movement of the People, an amalgam of groups mobilizing to disrupt the country’s political status quo went ahead to hold its launch at the entertainment centre owned by the scion of Afro-beat icon, Fela’s son, Femi Kuti.

Seun, who is cut from the same cloth with his father and brother, Femi, is one of the promoters of The Movement of the People.

He made the alleged threat known via his Instagram page and twitter handle accompanied by a letter from the Divisional Police Officer, The Nigeria Police, Alausa Division, Ikeja Lagos, and addressed to THE MANAGER, The African Shrine, No. 1, NERDC Road, Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos.

In the letter dated November 16, 2020, entitled “RE: Mass Meeting of a Movement of the People tagged #EndSARS Movement: Lessons and Task,” the Police said the meeting Seun was planning “is not welcome at this perilous time.”

The letter read in part: “You are hereby warned to suspend such gathering as any infraction that may emerge from this gathering will be tag (sic) a deliberate action to sabotage the transition and restoration of the peace in Lagos State by Lagos State government and the Nigeria Police Force.”

Reacting to the development, the singer cum activist wrote wrote: “So yesterday (Sunday, November 15) the government called my eldest sister @yeniakuti and threatened to close the shrine if I hold my event there tmr (Tuesday, November 17) and also sent a letter to back it up.

“I respect my families’ decision not to hold the event as is, but I will still go ahead with all the other organisations to launch THE MOVEMENT OF THE PEOPLE tomorrow (Tuesday) and start our political resistance to the tyranny of this oppressive regime.

“This is a meeting, just a meeting of organisations, and they are basically banning the right of association.

“Why are they afraid of the people organising? What is democratic about this act? “The last time we tried to launch the government quickly called curfew and this time they have used threat, but you can’t stop the will of the people.”