Temilade Openiyi, the Grammy-winning Nigerian singer known as Tems, has shared her harrowing experience in a Ugandan prison. Earlier reports detailed the arrests and court charges of Tems and Omah Lay, followed by their detention in Uganda.
The charges stemmed from their participation in a concert at Speke Resort in Kampala on December 12th, in defiance of COVID-19 social distancing regulations.
However, during a recent conversation with Angie Martinez on Power 105.1 FM in New York, Tems asserted that they had not violated COVID-19 regulations, maintaining that “it was a setup.”
The Oscar-nominated diva said she thought she might not be released from jail and had already started to acclimate to the situation, highlighting that she adapts very quickly.
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Tems said, “We didn’t break the [COVID-19] rules. It was basically like a set up. We went to Uganda, I had a show there. It was during COVID year but they had opened things up that time. They had just had a rally in Uganda. People were going out. It wasn’t on lockdown. It was the aftermath.”
“And the organisers said they had the permit, they sent us the permit. Everything was cool. And went there and there is this particular artist, I’m not sure now what his role was but he was just busy threatening Nigerian artists that they shouldn’t come.”
After the performance, plainclothes officers approached us by knocking on my hotel room door. My manager and I were in the middle of a meal, either lunch or dinner, when they arrived. They requested that we accompany them, and my manager offered to go along with them.
“So, he went with them. But they came back upstairs to pick me up. So, it was like who called them? Later, I found out that there was some weird… That was so scary. I spent two nights in prison. I thought I wasn’t gonna come out. I thought maybe I was going through it for a reason. I was like maybe this is for me to help the people in prison. It was crazy, I ain’t gonna lie. I was settling in because I adapt real quick.”