Robbery: Burna Boy, others absent from court

Burna Boy

The Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions has asked that an alleged robbery case involving popular dancehall and hip pop star, Ogulu Damini, aka Burna Boy, be transferred to the High Court.

However, The PUNCH learnt that the Ikeja Magistrate’s Court handling the matter had yet to receive a formal notice from the High Court indicating that the suspect had been arraigned.

Checks by our correspondent showed that when the matter came up for mention at the Ikeja Magistrate’s Court last Wednesday, none of the parties showed up as the magistrate adjourned till February 25, 2019.

The complainant in the matter, Abiye Jumbo, aka Mr 2kay, told The PUNCH on Tuesday that he had handed over the case to the police and had never been called to appear in court.

Burna Boy had been declared wanted by the Lagos Police Command over the robbery on Mr 2kay at Eko Hotel and Suites in October 2017.

The alleged gang leader of the suspected robbers, Tunmise Omotore, according to the police, had confessed to how they disguised as room service to rob Mr 2kay at the hotel, claiming they were acting on the instruction of Burna Boy’s Road Manager, Joel Kantiock.

The suspects had claimed they were paid N100,000 for the job as the police invited Burna Boy for questioning.

After showing up at the command headquarters in Lagos, the suspect was arrested and detained.

He was subsequently arraigned at the Ikeja Magistrates’ Court where he was granted bail in the sum of N100,000 with sureties in like sum.

Our correspondent learnt that since the bail, the case had suffered several adjournments.

“We were awaiting the legal advice. When the advice came, it said Burna Boy should be arraigned at the High Court for a lesser offence because he did not directly participate in the robbery. The other suspects were given charges like robbery and attempted murder. They were all to be arraigned at the High Court.

“But the practice is that once a case is referred to the High Court, the magistrate court will await a formal notice from the High Court to show they have been arraigned and that is when we will hand off the matter.

“But there has not been such notice. At the last adjournment on Wednesday, none of the parties showed up in court. The magistrate adjourned till February 2019,” a source said.

When our correspondent reached out to Mr 2kay, he said he had already handed over the matter to the police.

He explained that from the time the case started in 2017, he had not appeared in court.

Mr 2kay said the matter was not between him and Burna Boy, adding that the defendant was answering to charges from the police.

“I have moved on with my life and I am doing my thing; Burna Boy is also doing his thing. I don’t care about it again. It’s more than one year already and I don’t think I want to be talking about that again,” he said.

Burna Boy’s manager, Bose Ogulu, said it was not our correspondent’s business if the defendant did not show up in court.