The Lagos State Police Commissioner’s Special Squad has detained five policemen attached to singer, Damini Ogulu, aka Burna Boy, for attempted murder after they shot two men identified as Irebami Lawrence and one Tolu at Club Cubana on Victoria Island, Lagos, on Wednesday, June 8.
According to the Punch, a preliminary report by the Bar Beach Police Division indicates that trouble started when the singer and five police escorts visited the nightclub around 4 am on June 8.
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.
The publication stated that 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. Unknown to him, the lady was with her husband who got angry and accused the singer of making advances at his wife when he was with her.
After some minutes, Burna Boy allegedly 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,” said a top source at the office of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police.
A friend of one of the victims said they came to Nigeria from the UK and US for a wedding before the unfortunate incident happened.
”My Guys came to 9ja from England & USA Respectively 4 a wedding. I invited dem out to club cubana a petty altercation with Burna Boy’s people arose (Cos of woman).The next thing Bullets started flying , one got scraped in the head by a bullet and the other one got shot in the leg.
“When we rushed him to the Naval Medic Center they said they had no blood and he needed 3 pints of O+ blood, they said none of us can donate because we had been drinking from the club and then my friend started to shake on the hospital bed like he was losing his life
“Good Samaritan soldiers then offered to give a pint of blood each which was then used to stabilize him. The doctor said the iphone in his pocket which the bullet went through slowed down the bullet making it less fatal, the iphone saved his life”
BurnaBoy is yet to make any statement regarding the allegation.
Confirming the incident, the spokesman for the Lagos State Police command, Benjamin Hundeyin, said the focus of the investigation was the policemen.
Hundeyin said that the police had not received any complaint from any victim.
