Naira Marley is not a stranger to controversy. His biggest songs reek of misogyny and slut-shaming. Also, he can’t avoid run-ins with the law. In 2019, he was arrested by the EFCC in a highly-publicised theft and fraud case.
Earlier this year, he was arrested for flouting lockdown rules by attending a party organised by Funke Akindele and her husband. He was later released after writing a letter of apology to the Lagos State Government.
However, Naira Marley can’t help himself. Last week, he flew from Lagos to Abuja with Ex-Big Brother Naija star, Kimoprah, to headline a “drive-in concert” at Jabi Lake Mall. He did this knowing that the ban on interstate travel is still in effect.
Let’s talk consequences
On Sunday, the Federal Capital Territory Administration shut down Jabi Lake Mall, the venue of the concert, for violating the ban on large gatherings.
On Monday, the Federal Government suspended the airline indefinitely for the role they played in getting Naira Marley to Abuja. According to the minister of aviation, Hadi Sirika, the airline was supposed to fly a judge, who was on an official assignment, from Lagos to Abuja and back to Lagos.
Following the suspension of Executive Jet Service, the CEO of the airline, Sam Iwu, has apologised for their poor judgment. Mr Iwu admitted that the Ministry of Aviation approved the flight to fly the judge from Lagos to Abuja. However, the judge had found his way there already via another flight. Afterwards, the airline got a new offer to fly a new bunch of passengers to Abuja. He approved it, thinking that the “Fashola Babatunde” he saw on the flight manifest was the Minister of Works.
Mr Iwu added that he thought the airline was flying the minister to Abuja and not a “bunch of useless people” and promised that the airline won’t make such mistakes in the future.
Now that Naira Marley is in the league of “useless people”, Twitter went wild again.
It’s not clear yet if Naira Marley will be punished this time. However, the streets will always remember the time he was called useless.
