During a Tuesday Q&A session on X, Grammy-winning Nigerian singer Tems touched on why she won’t be returning to Uganda after a fan asked her to share the details behind that decision.
“What’s the lore behind you not coming to Uganda? #AskTems,” the fan asked the Love Me JeJe singer.
Tems responded by sharing a screenshot of her and others standing inside what looked like a court. The screenshot also included a headline that read: “Nigerian singer Tems appearing before court in Uganda.”
In December 2020, authorities in Uganda arrested and charged Tems, 30, and fellow Nigerian singer Omah Lay in connection with allegedly violating COVID-19 rules after they performed at a concert in the East African nation. Tems ended up spending two nights in prison, though the event organizer had initially claimed that permits for the concert to go ahead had been secured, Complex reported.
This also isn’t the first time Tems has touched on her unpleasant experience in Uganda. A year after the incident, Tems took to X to reflect on her ordeal.
“This very day Last Year, I was sitting in prison in Uganda bonding with women and kids,” the Essence singer wrote in the December 13, 2021, post. “I almost can’t believe the things I’ve seen so far. All I can say is God is too awesome and He will always have the last and final laugh.”
During a 2023 appearance on Angie Martinez’s show, the 30-year-old also described what she went through as “so scary.”
“We didn’t break the rules but it was basically like set up,” Tems told the host, per Complex. “After the show, the police came, they weren’t in uniforms. They just knocked on my hotel door—we were eating lunch or dinner, my manager and I. And they just came and said we should follow them … so [my manager] went with them, but they came back upstairs to pick me up.”
She added: “That was so scary. I spent two nights in jail. … I thought I wasn’t gonna come out. I thought … I was seeing this for a reason. Maybe this is for me to help these people in this prison. It was crazy, I’m not gonna lie.”
READ ALSO: 5 little-known facts about Tems, the first Nigerian to win two Grammy awards
