The Lagos State Police Command has cleared the air regarding the news of the alleged arrest of a popular Nigerian disc jockey, Obianuju Catherine Udeh, aka DJ Switch.
In a public apology tendered by the State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, the police explained that the arrested DJ was “DJ Commissioner Wysei, not DJ Switch.”
In the apology letter posted on his verified handle on the microblogging platform, X, Hundeyin wrote, “There is a mixup from our end. The arrested person is DJ Commissioner Wysei, not DJ Switch.”
“Apologies for all the inconveniences to a few media outfits like Linda Ikeji, BBC and TVC that I gave confirmation this morning.
“Apologies to DJ Switch too.” Hundeyin wrote on X.
The news of the alleged arrest of DJ Switch was first published by Nigerian popular gossip blog, LindaIkeji.com.
Who is DJ Switch?
In October, 2020, Nigerian disc jockey, DJ Switch made headlines after she livestreamed an onslaught by the Nigerian military on defenseless protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos.
In her live video, she showed bullets allegedly removed from the bodies of victims of the onslaught. Her videos and other similar videos went viral and attracted calls for an investigation into the claims.
Dj Switch would later go on a self-imposed exile in fear of the government.
While protesters claimed security forces opened fire, killing hundreds of unarmed protesters that night, the Nigerian government denied such claims.
The Lagos protest was an offshoot of a week-long protest tagged #EndSARS, a movement against the indiscriminate brutality by a special unit of the Nigeria Police Force known as “Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). Protesters called for its abolition and prosecution of erring officers.
The protest had crumbled commercial activities across different states in Nigeria for days, and even spreading to the Nigerian Diaspora communities in the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
The protests, mostly championed by young Nigerians, were met with a high-handed approach from the Nigerian government, then under the leadership of former president Mohammadu Buhari, a repentant dictator who came into power a second time as a civilian president, after briefly ruling the country via a military coup in 1984.
Buhari’s handling of the protest, even under a democracy, was ruthless – a clear reflection of his military approach to issues during his first regime in 1984- provoking a call by Amnesty International for investigations into human rights abuses by the Nigerian state.
An inquest was set up and victims of the shooting testified before a special court in Lagos state, where the incident occurred.
