The management of Lagos State University, Ojo, insisted that dancer Poco Lee and Musician Bella Shmurda were not attacked at the musical show “Party with Poco Lee (Homecoming Concert)”.
Politics Nigeria reports that Poco Lee, born Pascal Odinaka, a dancer and an alumnus of LASU, hosted a ‘Homecoming’ concert at the LASU Main Auditorium, Ojo Campus, on Thursday, July 13.
Another alumnus, Bella Shmurda, a famous singer, was also billed to perform at the show.
However, some LASU students blamed cultists, known as ‘Ojo boys, ’ for disrupting the concert.
But the management, in a statement made available to journalists signed by the Coordinator, Centre for Information and Public Relations, Thomas-Onashile Oluwayemisi, claimed that there was no cultists attack on the campus.
The statement read in part:
“The Management of Lagos State University has observed with deep regret the embellished social media portrayal of the pockets of altercations that greeted a musical show headlined by popular dancer, Poco Lee, and Musician Bella Shmurda, tagged “Party with Poco Lee (Homecoming Concert)”.
“While we condemn in totality the unfortunate incident, we have observed the twisted narrative that is beginning to be manufactured by malicious and, in some cases, ignorant individuals, which warrants that we provide the correct perspective.
“For the records, we wish to debunk claims of physical attacks on either the artists who came to perform or students by cultists being spread about.
“We state unequivocally that at no point was Bella Shmurda or Polo Lee or any other artiste attacked. Bella himself has validated this on his social media channels.
“While there were indeed pockets of squabbles among revellers as to be expected in such a show, reports of a fight break out or cult clashes are nothing but fallacies.
“We also wish to state for the records that the uproar that greeted the event towards its tail end was caused largely by reactions of excited students at having one of their own perform live for them on their campus.
“This is coupled with the issue of crowd control resulting from poor logistics and planning by the organisers, an independent entertainment outfit.
“From credible reports, the organisers of the show had sold tickets online with instructions for the attendees to obtain their tickets physically at the venue of the show.
“However, the crowd of students at the venue was beyond the provision of tickets made by the organisers leaving the men of the LASU security team to swiftly act to manage the situation with the support of men from other security agencies who had been invited before the show.
“Furthermore, even though the crowd was well controlled, the sighting of some of their own who have become celebrities did cause excitement from the students resulting in rowdiness.”
