The operatives of the dreaded SARS unit of the Nigerian police do not have a boundary. They don’t give a s*** about you or your stature in the society. What! That’s invalid. If you’re a politician you’re safe. But as an artist? No, you’re not.
Jaywon was having his birthday celebration on Wednesday night when the men arrived in a white van.
According to a post by veteran rapper, Ruggedman who was present at the birthday party, the operatives were there to allegedly apprehend a presenter with Planetradio TV, Emeka.
The attempted arrest was however not successful following resistance by Jaywon and some of the party goers.
A video of the incident was also made available yesterday. In the video, which is not so clear, some men were trying to get into a white.
“Jaywon calm down, calm down.” One of the attendees was heard urging Jaywon, who led the resistance, to be calm.
Ruggedman has since described Jaywon’s resistance of the operatives as “timely”.
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In another scene in the video, a voice was heard saying “una go reach prison.”
It also looked as though a kerfuffle were about to happen as signs of pushes and shoves were evident in the video.
In another video, a noise that sounded like gunshot or the clang of metal crashing was heard in the video. The other sound were raucous, of people howling.
The reason for the alleged intrusion of Jaywon’s party is unknown yet. However, Jaywon wrote “SARS bawo” on his Twitter yesterday, a tweet of affront.
There is also no official statement by the police as regards the incident.
Recall that Jaywon is not the only musician who has had a confrontation with SARS operatives. Last year, the unit harassed musician, Tillaman, “they put a gun to my ches’” Tillaman would later say in a video explaining the incident.
Mavin singer, Dr Sid was also harassed around Lekki, Lagos in April 2018. But the timely intervention of his associates ensured that things did not degenerate.
There has been frequent calls by notable Nigerians, particularly musicians and young people in technology to abolish or reform the SARS unit and the police for generally. While this has generated considerable press, government are not yet ready to do so — at least for now.