by Alex Onukwue

The News late Friday evening was that Nigerian pop artiste, Dammy Krane, had been arrested in the United States on the charge of grand theft, forgery and intent to defraud.

According to information on the Twitter account of TapJets, the Private Jet service provider who Dammy allegedly intended to deceive, the My Dear crooner had booked their service “using stolen credit card numbers”. Mugshots of the singer and details of his arrest were attached, which are verifiable on the Miami-Dade County Jail website.

The singer has neither confirmed nor denied the arrest, choosing instead to tweet about “understanding”, “truth” and “fake love”. What then, arrested or not?

It would be a definite Yes that, at least, Dammy Krane, whose real name is Oyindamola Emmanuel Jonhson-Hunga, has been booked for some offence in the United States, as the information on the Jail site shows. The details include his date of birth – he turns 24 in October – date and time of his arrest, Jail number, and an indication of a seven-count charge which include conspiracy and identity theft.

Dammy Krane was arrested with another Nigerian, named Chukwuemeka Gabriel Ilochukwu, presumably as a co-conspirator or for the same crime as an accomplice with Dammy. Mr Ilochukwu’s jail number ends with ‘17’, Dammy’s ends with’18’, both having the exact same preceding seven digits. The images of their booking also show Dammy Krane was booked at 07:35, six minutes after Mr Ilochukwu was booked.

The information above could still have more to it, hence Dammy’s call for “understanding”. Could it have been a case of mistaken identities? A quick glance through his Instagram account shows he has made use of Private Jet services previously to Atlanta and Washington. Why he would have to resort to the use of fake identities and credit card fraud to Miami is yet to be deciphered.

We will have to wait and see.

Editor