Cubana Club Shooting: Police Faulted For Assigning 5 Officers To Burna Boy

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, also known as HURIWA, has criticised the Lagos State Police Command as well as the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, for assigning five members of the Force to provide security for popular musician Burna Boy.

According to the rights group, this kind of deployment, which is completely unprecedented, has become the standard practice in the Nigerian police force.

This, according to the rights group, explains why there are no preventative actions taken during times of severe needs: the few operatives are all deployed for private commercial operations by their Area Commanders and Commissioners, most likely with the consent of the Inspector-General.

This statement was made by HURIWA in the wake of a recent incident that took place at a nightclub in Lagos, in which Burna Boy’s police escorts shot at a man after the artist was accused of making advances toward the man’s wife.

The Lagos State Police Commissioner’s Special Squad has since taken the five policemen who were assigned to the singer into custody on charges of attempted murder.

At Club Cubana on Victoria Island in Lagos on Wednesday, one of the officers was alleged to have shot at two people who were looking to have fun. One of the individuals was named Irebami Lawrence, and the other was simply identified as Tolu.

Trouble started immediately after Burna Boy and his five police escorts entered the nightclub at approximately 4:am on June 8, according to a preliminary investigation by the Bar Beach Police Division.

While four police officers waited outside of the club, one of them, identified as Inspector Ibrahim and dressed in mufti, led the Grammy Award-winning musician inside.

The musician was apparently in the VIP section with three women when he reportedly noticed another woman.

On the other hand, the singer was reported to have been reprimanded by the lady’s husband, who is said to have insisted that it was inappropriate for any man to make overtures to his wife.

Burna Boy reportedly made new passes at the woman after a few minutes. This angered her husband even more, as did his friends at the club.

A senior policeman said, “As things were getting heated, Ibrahim brought out his service pistol and shot multiple times while Burna Boy was laughing.”

HURIWA quoted a media report as stating that in the process, 27-year-old Lawrence was shot in the thigh, while his friend, Tolu, was hit in the head by a bullet, and this caused a commotion in the club.

It was gathered that Burna Boy and his entourage then drove to one of his houses around the Elegushi end of the Lekki-Epe Expressway before heading to Lekki Phase 1.

Burna Boy, who was well aware of what he had done, boarded the next flight without even telling the officers. He only communicated with them via video call to inform them that he had travelled to Spain.

HURIWA blamed the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, accusing him of permitting five police officers to go on such an illegal duty.

The group demanded that President Muhammadu Buhari unbundle the Police Service Commission and dismiss the Chairman, claiming that the Chairman has shown great ineptitude and an inability to lead the commission.

It also urged the Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice to prosecute Burna Boy and his killer police squad, to demonstrate that no one is above the law in a democracy.