Burna Boy ‘heavily drugged’ when he flirted with married woman, attacked husband at nightclub: Police

Burna Boy reportedly used his police orderlies to stoke fracas at Cubana nightclub after he made passes at a married woman who was with her husband and identified as Lawrence Irebami.

Burna Boy/Usman Baba Alkali

Burna Boy was “heavily drugged” and behaved “violently and irresponsibly” when he caused commotion that left at least two shot at a nightclub in Lagos on June 7-8, according to a police report seen by Gistcore media.

The report, filed to the commissioner’s office from a police outpost in Victoria Island, said Damini Ogulu abused his influence when he used his police orderlies to intimidate other fun seekers at the sprawling Cubana night club in the elite neighbourhood. 

The officers had been used by Burna Boy to stoke fracas at the nightclub after he made passes at a married woman who was with her husband and identified as Lawrence Irebami. Her husband immediately resisted Burna Boy’s attempt to humiliate him, leading to chaos. The couple had only recently got married, the report said. 

Burna Boy reportedly cheered as his police guards assailed the husband and fired initial shots into the air. Subsequent shots hit the husband and one of his friends, reports said. Burna Boy fled the scene. 

The hospitalised husband later sent his wife to report the matter at the police station, three days after the matter had gone unreported outside initial outrage on social media on June 8, the morning after the violence.

The Gistcore media has withheld the hospital’s name because the police feared the patient and medical personnel could come under pressure from Burna Boy’s supporters.

The police officers did not immediately file reports about what had transpired, and, when they ultimately did, they filed false accounts of how the situation unfolded, police report disclosed to The Gazette said.

The police unit in Victoria Island, after seeing holes in the claims of the officers, commenced a discreet investigation into what happened and discovered that the officers had lied in their report.

The report said the five officers who were not assigned to the Grammy-winning musician from the Lagos command. They were allocated directly to him from Abuja. 

“He acted violently and irresponsibly at the club,” the report said, suspecting he was “heavily drugged” and sought additional time to properly investigate all accounts.

The commissioner immediately asked operatives attached to X Squad to look into the matter and the errant officers. The officers have not been arrested as of Sunday afternoon, senior command personnel told The Gazette. Three of them have fled while two have offered to turn themselves in. 

Burna Boy has reportedly left the country and declined a request to comment on the incident from The Gazette on Sunday afternoon. 

The singer has faced charges of violent conduct in the past, including in 2017 when he was named in a robbery attack on another artist at Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos. The police declared him wanted at the time, but the matter was subsequently resolved under undisclosed terms.