Our experience in Uganda, by Omah Lay and Tems

NIGERIAN music artistes, Omah Lay and Tems have narrated in the social media their experiences in Uganda, where they were picked up last Sunday and dumped in a police cell for flouting the country’s Covid-19 protocol.

The artistes painted the scenarios on Twitter and Instagram respectively, where Omah Lay said they were treated like common criminals and Tems regretted that the situation happened at all.

Both lay the blame on the organisers of the show whom they claim gave them assurances that everything needed to be done for the concert to hold without let or hindrance were done. They insisted that if they knew that anybody would be put in harm’s way, they would not have performed.

“Also I wanna clarify that putting you in harm’s way was never my intention! Before we came out to Uganda, the show promoters confirmed and proved to us they’d secured all the clearances, which of course included Covid-19 compliance,” Omah Lay tweeted.

He was grateful to his fans, family, friends, music label, the Nigerian Mission in Uganda, the Presidency, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Nigeria Diaspora Commission headed by Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, for all they did, including sending messages, issuing tweets and offering prayers that saw them out of custody and back to Nigeria.

On her part, Tems said she would never have participated in the show if she had even the slightest inkling that the event would not meet the standard operating procedure, and was capable of putting Ugandans at risk.

On her Instagram page she claims that she’s truly saddened that attendees could have been exposed to Covid-19.

She was also grateful to the government, her fans and well-meaning Nigerians as well as Ugandans who supported her during her arrest and incarceration.

“The past week has been difficult but eye-opening for me. While I was being detained I met some amazing women and children, and my eyes were opened to the strife and hurt a lot of women are going through,” her statement reads partly.

Omah Lay and Tems returned to Nigeria on Thursday, December 18 aboard an Ethiopian Airline flight.