Five policemen protecting Burna Boy arrested for shooting two revellers in a Lagos nightclub

FIVE policemen providing security for singer Damini Ogulu popularly known as Burna Boy have been detained by the Lagos State police commissioner’s special squad after they shot two revellers at Club Cubana on Victoria Island in Lagos State.

In a bizarre case, the policemen are said to have shot the two men revealed to be Irebami Lawrence and another identified simply as Tolu, on Wednesday. According to a preliminary report by the Bar Beach Police Division, 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 Inspector 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 at his wife.

After some minutes, Burna Boy reportedly made fresh advances at the woman. This is said to have infuriated her husband further and his friends who had gathered at the club and the situation then descended into violence.

One police source said: “As things were getting heated, Ibrahim brought out his service pistol and shot multiple times while Burna Boy was laughing." During the fracas, 27-year-old Lawrence was shot in the thigh while his friend, Tolu, was hit in the head by a bullet.

“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 one source at the office of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police.

A brother to one of the victims, who identified himself only 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 US, 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 managers had not even reached out to the family since the incident occurred. Benjamin Hundeyin,  a spokesman for the Lagos State police command, said the focus of the investigation was the policemen.