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.
Punch reports that a preliminary report by the Bar Beach Police Division states that trouble started when the singer and five police escorts visited the nightclub around 4am 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.
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 traveled 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.
Sources close to the victims have accused the police of trying to protect Burnaboy while the victims were treating their wounds at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.
A brother to one of the victims who gave his name as Jide, said his brother had undergone surgery to remove the bullet lodged in his thigh. Jide added that Irebami, who is based in the United States of America, arrived in Nigeria a week ago for a wedding.
He also berated the management of Club Cubana for not doing enough to forestall the situation, adding that the club management had not even reached out to the family since the incident occurred.
BurnaBoy is yet to make any statement regarding this allegation.
Confirming the incident, the spokesman for the Lagos 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.
