What’s got so into Grand Mopao? The singer has been arrested, remanded in custody, and finally whisked out to the DRC following an amateur video that went viral on the web, which showed him visibly irritated and repeatedly kicking one of his dancers, with the crowd looking on. Along with the police. The scene, filmed by an onlooker and spread worldwide, took place on Friday, 22 July just at their arrival at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi, where he was expected to perform next Saturday. The video also shows law-enforcing officers intervening to protect the young woman and trying to soothe a KoffiOlomide still unrelenting on assaulting his victim. Images of this aggression spread worldwide and sparked a wave of protests. The Kenyans went so far as to boycott the concert. Later in evening, interviewed by the Citizen TV, Koffi categorically refuted the facts. “I tried with my leg to prevent a blow to be dealt at one of my dancers, whom I defended; and more importantly I tried to stave off any mayhem at the airport”. Worse still, he even so far as to play the victim, charging: “Through the Internet some people have set up a little fake to give the impression that I kicked…I saw the video just like you; it was a bit slashed (…) People didn’t see everything (…) What is the interest for me to beat anybody?
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Except that Citizen TV played and replayed the video so as to embarrass him. Cornered, he finally admitted to the act, belittling the incident by declaring that He did all this just to protect her dancers from outside aggression—while his victim is obviously one of his dancers, who was as dressed in red and black as her colleagues: “A person who doesn’t belong to Quartier Latin came to argue with my dancers at the airport of Nairobi, and I then intervened to separate them…Yet in order to tarnish my image, people are bent on distort the facts and turn me, as usual, into a wicked man”, explained the singer. Before admitting: “I forcefully intervened. But the purpose was to soothe them and defend my dancers. I have beaten nobody!”
You can lie all the time, but a speck of truth shall hang on…
Another version that doesn’t hold ground: “At our arrival at the airport, a lady started insulting and fighting the ladies that accompany me, according to what was explained to me, since I had my back turned against the incident, while the Kenyan television was busy interviewing me”, explained KoffiOlomide, before publicly apologising. Ridiculous!
To add the salt to the wound, on his Facebook page, he’ll release an element where he is seen calling as witness Pamela, the victim, who in turn belied the aggression thesis after her boss’ denial. She’ll even claim that her boss is so good, loves her so much that he’d never lay his hand on, nor kick, her. It’s crystal clear and logical that the young woman wouldn’t go the length of contradicting her boss, lest she obviously runs the risk of jeopardising her career and future.
To enhance the staging, during the programme, Mopao will ask her to prove her kind words by blowing big kisses on his cheek. Incredible, but true! In another element posted on the wall of the Tchatcho star, the singer Cindy le Coeur, the artistic director of his Quartier Latin Band, repeated as a parrot the same words…Scandalous!
Kenya did not yield to credulity
Arrested once outside Citizen Television hall, following his televised interview, the singer, who thought he was finally off the hook, was rightfully immediately led to the airport police station.
Following the outcry over the incident, Joseph Boinnet, the Police Inspector General, eventually ordered the arrest of the singer in order either to face court trial or to be expelled to the DRC. Certain rumours even alleged an eventual extradition to France, where the singer is charged with “rape of minors, sequestration, organised gang-related barbaric acts and human trafficking”. He narrowly escaped this extradition thanks to the intervention by the Kinshasa authorities, who demanded the artist be sent back home.
Immediately after the incident, the National Commission on Gender and Equality issued a communiqué urging the Kenyan Police General Inspector to immediately launch an investigation. It also recommended that the artist’s Kenyan visa be permanently withheld, judging that his behaviour is an insult to Kenyans and cannot be tolerated in any way; for it amounts to a blatant violation of human rights. “Kenya does not tolerate de-humanising acts against women. We hope that this action (arrest) will serve as a lesson for him and other birds of the feathers, that gender-based violence shall never be tolerated (…) All those who indulge in such a backward behaviour shall face the might of the law, regardless of their social position and economic power”, it was read in the communiqué by Sicily Kariuki, the Commission’s Secretary-General.
As for the Kenyan Member of Parliament Joyce Lay, she demanded that KoffiOlomidé be arrested and his passport confiscated.
KoffiOlomidé finally got expelled to Kinshasa after spending one night in custody at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Police Station, report on Saturday several of our fellow news outlets, including Citizen TV Kenya, which closely covers the incident.
KoffiOlomidé, who was equally set to perform the next week at the occasion of the AgriculturalShow in Lusaka, Zambia, learned his concert was annulled. “Following the regrettable incident involving KoffiOlomidé in Kenya, the Agricultural and Commercial Show Society of Zambia has decided to annul his concert”, has declared in a communiqué Ben Shoko, the company’s head.
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