Since the year began, rarely has any month gone by without a celebrity being in the news for an altercation with either the Nigerian Police or other security agencies in the country. In this write-up, Potpourri takes a look at some top celebrities who have either been invited or arrested by the country’s security agencies this year.
Zinoleesky and Mohbad: In February this year, a video trended on the internet, showing officers of the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, arresting Marlian records signees, Zinoleesky and Mohbad at their home in Lekki. According to the agency, the artists were in possession of hard drugs when they were arrested. The officers who claimed they acted on reliable information, arrested one other male and two females, alongside the artists.
While the singers remained in custody, their record label boss, Naira Marley, who himself has been a guest of security agencies in the past, didn’t publicly comment on the arrest. He however, took to Instagram to express his displeasure shortly after the arrest with a cryptic message.
“I’m so angry right now.” Naira Marley wrote.
TI Blaze: TI Blaze was arrested in April for reasons unknown. The rapper’s trouble with the Nigeria police came two weeks after two of his associates were arrested by some operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in a midnight raid. The singer had, before his arrest, shared a video of his apartment in disarray, while calling out to Nigerians to pray for his team.
“NDLEA bumped into my apartment this morning and scattered everywhere. They said I sang about Canadian Loud. They also arrested my manager and road manager. They took them away in their Hilux”, the singer wrote.
Portable: In June, controversial singer, Habeeb Okikiola, popularly known as Portable, was interrogated by men of the Ogun State Police Command over an alleged assault. The artist was reported to have visited the Police State Headquarters, Eleweran in Abeokuta, to honour the police invitation regarding the case.The summon followed a case of an alleged assault on his former Disc Jockey, simply identified as DJ Chicken.
Portable had hardly gotten out of that case, when a month later, it was reported that the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, had ordered Portable to be probed over his alleged ties to One Million Boys, a notorious gang terrorizing Lagos and parts of Ogun State.
The controversial musician had in a video, which went viral, boasted of founding the gang and another notorious group known as Ajah Boys.
Burna Boy: In June this year, Grammy award winner Burna Boy and five of his police escorts visited Cubana club house around 4 am on June 8. Four waited outside while one, identified as Inspector Ibrahim, who dressed in mufti, accompanied the Burna Boy into the club. Burna was in the VIP section with three women when he spotted another woman and asked Ibrahim to invite her to his table.
But the lady’s husband got furious over the artiste’s advances at his wife. Afterwards, Burna Boy reportedly made fresh advances which caused great issues. The matter degenerated to a point that his police guards shot at club goers identified as Tolu and Irebami Lawrence
The Lagos State Police Commissioner’s Special Squad arrested and detained all of his five police escorts but didn’t arrest Burna Boy, who was out of the country as at the time his escorts were arrested. The police however invited him to come over whenever he got back to the country.
Kizz Daniel: In August, Daniel Anidugbe, aka Kizz Daniel, was invited by the police for seizing the delivery bus of a laundry service company, for allegedly damaging his clothes while rendering services to him in Lagos State.
The company sent their bus over to his place, only for Kizz Daniel to seize their bus, send their driver away, and promise not to release their bus until his damaged clothes are paid for.
The laundry driver on his way out, visited a police station, and made a complaint. The police went to Kizz’s residence and retrieved the bus, while also inviting him to their station for questioning. Kizz Daniel could not honour the invitation then because he was far away in Tanzania where he went to perform.
Ice Prince: Popular Nigerian musician, Ice Prince was in early September, arrested by the Lagos State Police Command, for assaulting a police officer. It was learned that at about 3a.m on Friday September 3, the Oleku crooner was flagged down by police officers for driving without a license plate.
Ice Prince, who initially agreed to be taken to the station immediately, allegedly abducted the police officer in his car, assaulted him, and threatened to throw him in the lagoon. Ice Prince was eventually arraigned before the court by the Lagos State Police Command on September 2, where he was ordered to be remanded at the Ikoyi correctional centre.
Subsequently, he was granted bail in the sum of N500,00. He was also asked to furnish the court with two responsible sureties.
