Nigerian music sensation Tems has finally lifted the lid on why she’s refused to return to Uganda and it turns out the memory is far darker than fans realized. During a recent Q&A session, when asked why she won’t go back, she responded not with words… but with a haunting throwback courtroom photo from 2020.
That image captured the moment she along with fellow artist Omah Lay was dragged to court after a concert in Kampala was shut down for allegedly violating COVID-19 restrictions. The show had been billed as a safe event, yet authorities descended, arresting the artists and detaining them.
Tems later described the ordeal as “so scary,” recounting how police, some reportedly in plain clothes, knocked on her hotel door late at night, insisted she follow them, and eventually arrested her. For two harrowing nights she was locked up in an Ugandan prison an experience she says still haunts her.
The fact is: for Tems, Uganda is no longer a place of music, applause, or good memories it’s a flashback to fear, uncertainty, and legal humiliation. And she wants nothing to do with revisiting that chapter. Critically, this isn’t about petty drama, but about trauma that changed how she sees safety, trust, and events abroad.
