The five policemen attached to Nigerian singer, Damini Ogulu, aka Burna Boy have been detained by the Lagos police command for attempted murder after they shot two fun-seekers.
The victims were identified as Irebami Lawrence and Tolu.
The shooting incident reportedly occurred at Club Cubana on Victoria Island, Lagos, on Wednesday, Sunday Punch reports.
It was learnt that Burna Boy was laughing while the incident occurred and immediately left for Spain.
A preliminary report by the Bar Beach Police Division said trouble started when the singer and five police escorts visited the nightclub around 4am on June 8.
It was learnt that about four policemen waited outside while one of the policemen, identified as Inspector Ibrahim, who was in mufti, accompanied the Grammy-Award-winning artiste into the club.
According to multiple witness statements, the singer was in the VIP section with three women when he spotted another woman.
He was reported to have told Ibrahim to invite the woman to join him.
However, the lady’s husband was said to have lambasted the singer, insisting that it was disrespectful for any man to make advances on his wife.
After some minutes, Burna Boy reportedly made fresh advances at the woman.
This infuriated her husband further and his friends who had gathered at the club.
“As things were getting heated, Ibrahim brought out his service pistol and shot multiple times while Burna Boy was laughing,” said a senior policeman.
In the process, 27-year-old Lawrence was shot in the thigh while his friend, Tolu, was hit in the head by a bullet. This caused a commotion in the club.
It was learnt that Burna Boy and his crew then drove off to one of his properties at the Elegushi end of the Lekki-Epe Expressway before leaving for Lekki Phase 1.
“Aware of what he had done, Burna Boy took the next flight out without even informing the policemen. He only made a video call to them to inform them that he had travelled to Spain. All his police escorts have been arrested and are currently at the Command headquarters,” a top source at the office of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police told Sunday Punch.
Sources close to the victims said the police were trying to protect the Grammy Award winner because of his status while the victims were treating their wounds at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.
A brother of Irebami, one of the victims, Jide, said his brother had undergone surgery to remove the bullet lodged in his thigh.
Jide said Irebami is based in the US, and only came to Nigeria a week ago for a wedding.
According to him, the management of Club Cubana was also complicit for not doing enough to forestall the situation.
He said the club management had not even reached out to the family since the incident occurred.
Burna Boy’s manager, who is also his mother, Bose Ogulu, did not respond to inquiries.
But the spokesman for the state police command, Benjamin Hundeyin, said the focus of the investigation was the policemen.
Hundeyin claimed that the police had not received any complaint from any victim.
Burna Boy is not strange to scandals and controversies.
In 2017, the singer was declared wanted by the Lagos police command in connection with the robbery attack on another popular musician, Mr. 2kay.
The alleged robbery incident occurred at Eko Hotel and Suites in October 2017.
Tunmise Omotore, the gang leader of the suspected robbers, had said they acted on the instruction of Burna Boy’s road manager at the time, Joel Kantiock.
Also in May 2020, Burna Boy’s neighbours called the police to arrest him and his father over an altercation.
His neighbours were said to have complained about noises coming from his house, leading to the altercation.
In November 2021, Burna Boy and his manager mum, Bose Ogulu were accused of extortion by a US-based show promoter, Emmanuel Chinyere Uzoh, who is the CEO of Gold Moola Entertainment.
Uzoh accused the singer in an Instagram post of refusing to perform at a show despite being paid in full.
