Temilade Openiyi, often known as Tems, is a Grammy-winning Nigerian musician who recently opened up about her terrifying experience in a Ugandan jail. Following their December 12 appearance at a concert at Speke Resort in Kampala, Uganda, Tems and Omah Lay ran afoul of the law for allegedly breaking COVID-19 social distancing rules.

In a recent interview, Tems insisted that they had not violated any COVID-19 regulations and that everything had been set up, speaking with Angie Martinez of Power 105.1 FM in New York. The Academy Award-nominated artist talked about the fear she had while being held captive and even started to adjust to her new environment.

 

“We didn’t break the [COVID-19] rules,” Tems clarified. It resembled a setup, really. We traveled to Uganda, where I performed. Even though it was during the COVID year, things had already begun to open up. In Uganda, they had just concluded a rally. Individuals were leaving. Lockdown wasn’t in place. It was the fallout.

She went on to explain how the situation worsened and how the concert organizers insisted they had all the required permits. She was left feeling scared and uneasy after the incident, which resulted in her and Omah Lay being held for two nights. Thoughts of her unexpected circumstance crossed Tems’s mind. She might be in jail for a specific reason, perhaps to assist inmates.

Thus, he accompanied them. However, they returned upstairs to retrieve me. It was like, who gave them a call? Afterwards, I discovered that there was some strange… That was really eerie. I was in prison for two nights. I didn’t think I would come out. I wondered if there was a purpose for what I was going through. Perhaps this is my chance to assist those incarcerated, I thought to myself. I won’t lie—it was insane. I was getting settled since I adjust quickly.

“Additionally, the organizers emailed us with their purported authorization.Everything about it was cool. And proceeded to that location, where a single artist—whose exact position I’m not sure of—was occupied with threatening to cancel and forewarning Nigerian artists not to show there. And following the show, the police arrived. They were not uniformed. They just knocked on my motel room, I heard. My manager and I were having lunch or dinner together. When they just showed up and instructed us to follow them, my manager said he would go with them.