Is convicted rapist Koffi Olomide remaking himself with new anti-coronavirus song?

Congolese musician, Koffi Olomide, has released a new song titled “Assassin” that is aimed at carrying the singer’s opinion that the coronavirus pandemic is a sign of God’s anger with humanity.

The song which is a little longer than five minutes, speaks to the fact that the pandemic is not a simple biological inconvenience.

Olomide sings: “God’s anger has shown itself in the form of a virus. It is written that we are going to die but not like enemies. Now people are being buried like dogs. The assassin’s name is coronavirus. It cannot be stopped by witchcraft. Let us ask God for forgiveness so we can survive.”

According to Nairobi News in Kenya where Olomide has planned a number of shows in May, the Congolese musician hopes his song can inspire people to “ask for forgiveness”.

“If all goes well, I will come, but now we have to tell the world that Coronavirus is dangerous. We need to get solutions and also ask God for forgiveness,” Olomide was quoted as saying.

But Olomide, a veteran of over two decades, has jaded his superstar status in the last few years.

In 2019, he was found guilty of the statutory rape of one of his dancers when she was 15 years old. Olomide was handed a two-year suspended jail sentence by a French court.

He had fled France after he was charged with the crime and was thus, absent during the sentencing.

Olomide was also ordered to pay 5,000 Euros to the former dancer in damages and was also fined the same amount for his role in facilitating the illegal entry of three women into France,

Further back in 2008, he was accused of assaulting a cameraman from a local TV station at a concert in Kinshasa, DR Congo. The two later reconciled. He was also handed a suspended three-month jail sentence after assaulting his producer in the same country in 2012.

Olomide does not even have a clean slate in Kenya where he plans to be next month. In 2016, he was caught on tape allegedly assaulting one of his female dancers at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.

Now 63, the man whose real name is Antoine Christopher Agbepa Mumba, seems like a musician who has not been hurt much by a rape conviction.