Tems remembered her two days of imprisonment in Uganda.
When the country's COVID curfew was abolished, the singer, Omah Lay, and Donawon were all jailed while traveling to perform in Uganda.
In an interview with radio personality Angie Martinez, Tems said that while they didn't precisely breach any laws, their arrest was planned by a nearby artist who had promised to take care of them.
She said that the show's organizers had obtained permission to perform, and that since the COVID limitations had been relaxed, people had already started going out.
Following the performance, Tems stated that she was eating lunch in her hotel room with her management when Ugandan police came to pick her up.
The Nigerian singer claimed that after spending two nights behind bars, she didn't think she would be able to escape because she didn't have a phone or any means of contact with the outside world to find out what attempts were being made to have her released. She claimed she had already begun to feel at home and that maybe God had placed her there for a purpose.
Tems said, “I thought I wasn’t gonna come out. I thought I was seeing it for a reason like maybe I was meant to help the people. I was settling in because I adapted real quick and as I was walking in I started to cry because they gave me my uniform and it stunk because they don’t wash it. It was a small room and there was nothing, there’s just the floor they give you blankets and tissues and you’re just on the floor, no bed and I did it for two days. I didn’t even know I was going to get out, I didn’t have any ears on the ground nobody told me anything. Outside everyone was like ‘free Tems, free Omah lay’ but inside I was just hopeful, waiting.”
Tems revealed that the ladies she became close to while incarcerated were essentially there for the smallest of offenses; some of them had even had their husbands imprison them. She continued by saying that some of the ladies were in jail with their kids.
She said to Martinez, “Once I walked in everyone turned and looked at me and whispering and I was like ‘what have I done? I can’t cry’ and I just started winking, that was my way of adapting. I must show these people that I’m confident so I started being extra winking and saying hi and they were laughing.”
Omah Lay and Tems performed at The Big Brunch on December 12, 2020, at Speke Resort, Wavamunno Road, Kampala, Uganda. The Ugandan authorities accused them of breaking COVID-19 regulations after lockdown after their performance.
Watch the interview below.