Ten Nigerian Celebrities That Have Been Jailed

It’s not every time you hear of celebrities going to jail for committing a crime. This may be because of their high profile, or because they recognize the fact that they are public figures so they “behave themselves”. Nonetheless, celebrities are humans just like everyone else and would definitely go to jail if guilty of any charges levied against them. Nigerians and social media were recently thrown into a frenzy after popular music star Naira Marley was recently arrested by the EFCC for allegedly committing a popular scam called “yahoo yahoo”. The star was arrested on his birthday May 10th a day after realising a song he called “am I a yahoo boy” with rapper Zlatan Ibile who together with him and some others were all arrested. Although Zlatan was released after two days, the same could not be said of Marley who was slammed with 11 count charges and later paraded by the EFCC. If convicted, the fast-rising singer would be facing 7 years imprisonment for the crimes. Should that happen, Naira would join a host of other celebrities who has also been tried, convicted and sentenced to jail. Check out the list of Nigerian celebrities who have been to jail below…

• Fela: Music legend Fela holds the record of Nigerian celebrity who has been to jail countless times. This many believed was as a result of his radical criticism of the Nigerian government. There however was a time in 1984 when the afrobeat legend was arrested and jailed for smuggling currency. He was jailed for 20 months before he was later released by General Ibrahim Babangida
• Ibinabo Fiberesima: The then popular Nigerian actress Ibinabo Fiberesima was arrested and jailed for manslaughter and reckless driving after she accidentally killed a certain Giwa Suraj in 2006. Suraj was a medical doctor who was working in Lagos State Teaching Hospital. With regards to this, Ibinabo was sacked as the President of the Actors Guild in Nigeria and then sentenced to 5-year jail term by a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos. 
• Uche Odoputa: Uche Odoputa was sentenced to 8 months imprisonment after he was caught with cocaine at the International airport in Lagos on his way to London. The Nigerian actor revealed while in court that he was pushed by his friends in London who took advantage of his poor situation to lure him into pushing the drugs. Uche revealed he was willing to do it because he was not getting any roles and could not feed his family. 
• Dammy Krane: This celebrity’s arrest was a much publicised one, one he denied but the truth came out regardless. Krane was arrested on Friday 2 in June 2017, for grand theft, credit card fraud and identity fraud. It was alleged that he used a stolen card to book a private jet from the company, Tap Jets while in Miami. The company he booked from noticed some problems with the information on the credit card he provided and had him arrested. He was locked up in a jail in Maimi and was only released on bail after he paid the $7,500 fine. The singer pleaded not guilty to the charged after being tried in court. Eventually, he was cleared of all the accusations levied against him. 
• Lola Magaret: The Nigerian actress just like Dammy Krane was arrested in the USA. This was after it was discovered that she had suspicious amounts of money wired into her bank account. Lola constantly withdrew this money thereby drawing the attention of detectives to herself. Afterwards, she was tracked and placed under police custody with no news of her. Later on, her mugshot surfaced online revealing that she had been put in jail. Afterwards, she was released and deported back to Nigeria never to return to the USA again. 
• Rabi Ismaila: Kanywood actress, Rabi Ismaila was arrested in 2005 for allegedly murdering her boyfriend. The actress was tried and convicted of murder after which she was sentenced to death by hanging. The actress was said to have lured him to the Tiga Dam for a picnic, where she poisoned his chocolate before proceeding to drown his body. The actress who was jailed escaped where she was held in 2012 but was later caught five years later after changing her name to Rabi Cecilia. 
• Godwon: The Nigerian singer was arrested in the US in 2009 after he stole some items from a house which were eventually found in his car. He was rearrested for ‘burglary of a habitation’ and locked up for three years after he was tried and convicted.
• Sinzu: Sinzu’s arrest and conviction was a popular one as the singer committed numerous offences. He was arrested and jailed for two years in the US for aggravated Identity theft. He stole over 15 bank cards and numbers after which he encoded the bank numbers into them changed the account PINs. He went on to withdraw cash with these accounts and was caught when he was about to board a flight. He was also arrested for stealing  $300 from a Supermarket ATM, for conspiring to commit bank fraud, aggravated identity theft, and possession of several fraudulent bank cards. As a result, he was jailed for two years.
• Baba Suwe: Popular actor Baba suwe spent three weeks in NDLEA cell after he was arrested with suspicion of drugs in his stomach. The actor was forced to take several dumps in the toilet to see if he was going to excrete the drugs out. But to the disappointment of the agency the actor did not. Many said he hid the drugs with African charms just as Fela Kuti was claimed to have hidden his when he was in the same situation. Baba suwe was later released as he was asked to pay N500,000 fine
• Skales: Singer Skales and his manager, Osagie was arrested and remanded in police jail for their alleged fraudulent activities involving the record label. It was alleged that Wale Ewedemi, Skales alongside Osagie, defrauded the label of millions of Naira, which they diverted into other projects the label was unaware of. The singer was eventually freed but the same could not be said of his manager who spent a longer time with the police.