Tiwa Savage keeps mum online

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Contrary to expectation, singer Tiwa Savage has failed to explain her role in the circumstances that led to her arrest by the police in Lagos on Saturday. The Mavin Records artiste and brand ambassador for MTN Nigeria, Pepsi and Forte Oil was alleged to have assaulted and humiliated a policeman, who apprehended her for violating some provisions of the Lagos State Road Traffic Law.
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She was said to have, in a fit of anger, removed the cap of the policeman who accosted her for flouting traffic rules outside the premises of Eko Hotels and Suites on Victoria Island. When contacted by our correspondent, the Group Publicist of Mavin Records, Terfa Tilley-Gyado, had promised to issue a statement stating Savage’s side of the story. But, as at press time on Monday, he had yet to do so.

Several phone calls placed to Tilley-Gyado’s mobile phone rang out and he failed to respond to a text message sent to him.  Meanwhile, checks on Savage’s Twitter handle showed that she avoided mentioning her encounter with the policeman. A handful of her tweeting fans tried in vain to make her explain the circumstances that led to her arrest.

Besides, the singer’s website, officialtiwasavage.com, and her Facebook page were not updated to provide any information about the incident. However, many Nigerians have frowned on her behaviour towards the aggrieved law enforcement officer.  According to them, Savage, who studied at the University of Kent in the United Kingdom, where she bagged a degree in Business Administration and Accounting, should have known that policemen deserved to be treated with respect.

In the comments posted on various social networking sites, many Nigerians described her action as “misbehaviour” and an act of impunity unbecoming of a celebrity that some youths considered to be their role model.

On Facebook, one Abiodun Airemen dared Savage to treat a policeman in the UK the way she dealt with the Nigerian cop.

“When she was staying abroad was she not abiding by traffic rules? Is it because she knows that she would pay fines heavily? But she comes back home in Nigeria and starts misbehaving. That is nonsense,” Aireimen said.

Another Nigerian on Facebook, Shaka Richards-Enigimhi, said it was unfortunate that a celebrity, who should have ordinarily been canvassing support for the police, was the one frustrating their efforts.

“She was very wrong to have done that. I think we should show some respect to our law enforcement officers. The Nigeria Police is doing its best to make the country a better place,”  Richards-Enigimhi wrote.

A reader on punchng.com, Esan Oluwasegun urged the artiste to go for counselling on how to comport herself in public.

“Tiwa Savage, in my own dispassionate opinion and on the strength of what I have read in this story, has erred. She should remember that she is a public figure and celebrity who should be very upright and law-abiding,” Oluwasegun stated.

Many of those who wondered why she failed to exhibit some form of orderly behaviour in public noted that the police should have allowed the law to take its course rather than allow her to go scot free.  They reasoned that it would have served as a deterrent to other celebrities in the country.

 Commenting on the incident on Facebook, Austine Martins said, 

“She (Tiwa Savage) is not above the law. The police should have ensured that she faced the punishment so that people like her can learn.”

Also Edafe Oghenebrume said, “She should be made to face the music. Our Policemen and women are not animals to be treated as such.”

Walihi Oladeinde, who described the singer’s action as deviant, joined in condemning the singer’s action. He insisted that she should be punished for misbehaving in public. 

He said, “I couldn’t believe that Tiwa Savage is among the deviants in the country. Equity before the law. Let her face the consequences of her action.”

Another reader, Kehinde Ope, wrote, 

“The police shouldn’t have released her just by cautioning her only; instead, she deserved to be prosecuted and punished in accordance with the laws of the land.

“She lived in the UK for a long time, she knows she can’t dare beat traffic light like that in London, and to compound it, attack a London police officer. That will send her to jail without any doubt.”