In 2021, Uganda, like most of other countries was under the Covid-19 induced lockdown and the entertainment was one of the sectors greatly affected by virus as crowds were banned.
Artistes were barred from staging public shows until two Nigerian musicians; Omah Ley and Tems visited Uganda for a concert.
We later learnt that authorities had given a green light to parties of 200 or people but when Omah Ley posted a picture of himself on his socials, with several Ugandan revelers, both the local artistes and their fan base got furious.
Several local artistes, including Bebe Cool took to social media to call out the government, police, and any other authorities to take action by arresting the musicians and the revlers who had attended their show.
Just before their release, Bebe Cool was seen going to court and jail. He even posted that this was going to be a ‘Prison Break’ and after, they were released.
However, Temilade Openiyi- alias Tems, took on X- formerly Twitter, and made a post alleging that singer Bebe Cool had been behind her and Omah Ley’s arrest.
After years of silence, perhaps out of embarrassment, Bebe Cool has come out to claim that he negotiated the Nigerian music stars’ release.
He made the remarks during the Afrobeats podcast appearance hosted by Adesope Olajide.
“I didn’t get Tems and Omah Lay arrested in Uganda. It’s very difficult when the internet picks on a story in a [certain] direction. It is different to turn it around….I got the details of their arrest from a friend and then I started making [phone] calls. I went to the police station and spoke to the DPC, and he confirmed that they had arrested Tems and Omah Lay. I told him, ‘why did you go to arrest the artistes, because the artistes are not in charge of the show. The president has given an allowance of 200 people, but the artistes don’t control the number of attendees. So why arrest them?”
Bebe Cool said that as he was still negotiating the artists’ release in another office, in Naguru (the headquarters of the Uganda Police), he saw online that the artists had been taken to court.
“I made a call to the DPC and said, ‘I just left, I’m waiting for the big man to come so that we can discuss, why go behind me and to take the artistes to court?’ He explained to me that when I left, the lady promoter made a mess, and was bragging about how her mother has connections to the president.”
He said he later managed to get the artists released without any intervention from the Nigerian envoys to Uganda. He goes on to reveal, that he managed to explain everything to Omah Lay, when he had just been released, but did not get to talk to Tems.
“When I saw Omah Lay’s demeanor, I knew he understood, of course Tems tweeted because that’s what she was told, and of course the trauma,” the Circumference singer said.
