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Koffi Olomide

CONGOLESE musician Koffi Olomide was Saturday morning deported to Kinshasa, DR Congo after being arrested in Kenya on Friday night. Olomide was sent back to his home country via a Kenya Airways flight that left the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) at 11:35am after he spent the night at the JKIA police cell. The flight was scheduled to touch down in Kinshasa shortly after 1pm.

Olomide was arrested for assaulting a female dancer at JKIA upon his arrival in Kenya for a show that was scheduled for Saturday at the Bomas of Kenya.

Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet ordered airport police to take action against Olomide after a video went viral on social media showing how the Congolese musician assaulted his female dancer.

Despite being caught on camera kicking the dancer only identified as Pamela, Olomide denied and insisted that he was protecting his crew from an unspecified person who was threatening their security.

In the evening, the National Commission on Gender and Equality issued a statement calling on the Inspector General of the Kenyan police to investigate the issue immediately.

The 59-year-old singer, who was scheduled to hold a concert in Nairobi, was arrested in front of television cameras outside the premises of a television station where he was granting an interview.

The singer was taken to the airport police station and awaits charges, a police source told AFP.

In August 2012, the singer was slapped with a three months suspended prison sentence in Kinshasa for assaulting his producer. – AFP