You guys already read Ruggedman's version of events (If
you missed it, check on it HERE ) Now it's the turn of Abuja
promoter, Ejiro Okhipwo. He just sent me a statement.
Read below....
First of all, I'm embarrassed that this man,
Ruggedman, could bring himself so low by exposing
his own shame publicly in the media. I'm
embarrassed because no artiste could have done
what this guy did to us even when we felt we were
doing him a big favour. Look, I have organized
several editions of this event, and different artistes
have graced our event, but we have never been
swindled before. This is our first experience, and
unfortunately, it's an artiste who has lost audience
appeal that did this to us. I had wanted to let this
pass, but since he has gone to humiliate himself in
the media, I will follow this up. I'm consulting with
my lawyer at the moment, and we may be suing
ruggedman for defamation of character, and his
failure to heed to our earlier agreement with him.
It's amazing the way Ruggedman misbehaved. As a
supposed respected elder in the business of
entertainment, we never expected that from him. No
wonder he had a fight with his boy, 9ice who became
bigger and better than him in the music game.
Now my story:
Quite frankly, what we do when we are bringing an artiste
to our show is to pay the person upfront, you give us your
most convenient time to travel, and we book your return
ticket. It's laughable and extremely ridiculous that
Ruggedman is claiming we were to pay him honorarium of
N100,000. I couldn't have paid him N100, 000 when he was
the one who begged us for the show. He said he wanted an
award to get himself acquainted with his Abuja fans. This
is not what we would have loved to say in the public
domain, if not that he has gone public, because we respect
all the artistes we deal with, no matter the status. Having
called me personally to beg for the award, we told him,
look, we will appreciate your appearance after our event as
we did not put you in our budget earlier. We then booked
for his flight, we sent him the tickets reference number and
he came into Abuja on Friday, the 25th of October, 2013
and was picked up from the airport without delays. He was
also checked into a classic hotel with a four star value as
agreed, with food and drinks on ground for him to enjoy a
day before the event.
Ruggedman refused to pick up his calls: He had over 30
missed calls from us.
Unfortunately for the MBGA organizers, Ruggedman
refused to pick up calls placed to him. In fact, He went
ahead to even show some other artistes that were in the
hotel with him , that "see, see, see, the organizers of the
event are calling me, but I will not pick, I will make them
go through hell since they have refused to see me since
yesterday that I arrived’’ How could he have made such
claims. Who picked him up from the airport then? The pack
of lies is clearly childish and pointless.
Our Bewilderment
We wondered at the change of agreement and his refusal to
pick up calls. The question was why was our own
Ruggedman disgracing himself over N50, 000 that we
agreed to pay him after the event? At list, we expected him
to pick up his calls and give us his new terms, but he never
did. Information got to us that he was to have a meeting
with some people that time over his album, the reason he
used our show to transport himself to Abuja. We never
believed that in the first place, but it got clearer to me the
next day, when this guy showed no remorse towards his
actions. Funny enough, he was waiting for his return ticket,
and his honorarium, and we kept wondering ‘’ what are we
honouring him for?’’. Appreciating him for eating our food,
drinking our bear, wasting our ticket money, time and
energy? Appreciating him for rudely and unapologetically
denying that we brought him into Abuja, appreciating him
for ignoring over 30 missed calls? These were the series of
questions begging for answers. Ruggedman, even at that,
had the guts to take our case to the media; the world is
very funny.
Why only Ruggedman? Why not other artistes?
If we can invite all the Nollywood acts, artistes and
comedians like him, why should we not want to pay him a
little amount of N50, 000 only?
His unbearable attitude and its effect on his career
With an apology, I want to say that Ruggedman is really
not a good role model, and that has resulted to his poor
performance over time. I think the name rugged is
influencing his life and his career. He needs to redefine his
name, and what he represents as an artiste. You cannot
continue to fight people who try to make you relevant as an
entertainer. It's sad.
Why did we invite Ruggedman and not an A-list artiste?
We knew this guy was not an A-List artist, yet we went
ahead to invite him to be awarded, Just to have him get on
track. He attested to the fact that we were creating
visibility for him, but we were shocked at what we received
from him; insults, by putting up a very sad news just to
tarnish the good name and record of MBGA event. We
won't just let this pass. We will ask some legal questions
on why he should come out to castigate us without
reasons. We are very sorry for him, because he is going to
pay the MBGA for all damages he had caused the event.
Why we abandoned him in the hotel after the event
We admit that we abandoned him at the hotel in Abuja after
the event because he refused to perform his own part of the
gentlemen agreement we had. would it have been nice to
pay him even when he refused to pick up our calls to
perform at the show? Had he performed at the show and we
refused to pay him, then his media query would have been
a little reasonable. How would he have expected the MBGA
to pay for his fare back to Lagos? He is a very nonsensical
element and should be treated as such. This same
Ruggedman stayed in that same hotel on our bills from
Friday, a day before the event till Monday; that is two days
after the event. So, we told the hotel to check him out once
its 12noon on Monday, the 28th of October 2013. What kind
human being is he? How could he be talking about God,
when God is already angry with him? This God don suffer
for people mouth jor.
Our legal war!
Rugged man will hear from us very soon. Our lawyers will
serve him for damages and he will pay from his nose. It’s
funny and unfortunate that he can't even afford to answer a
case at a competent court of law. I think he needs some
help, but he is yet to realize that. How can an artiste be
fighting all through his career? Is that supposed to be his
own calling?
Who threatened who?
I did not threaten him, nobody did that, instead, he was
using different people to threaten us. I think the guy wants
to use us to promote his album, but we won't let his
gimmicks distract us, as we will continue to pull great
events for Abuja people."
Our appeal
We sincerely appeal to all our fans to remain calm and
focused, believing that we have better things for them.
Everybody is a partner in what we do. We do not have any
police bosses as claimed by ruggedman. He just deleted
me from his Blackberry contact; else, I would have copied
all the chats I had with him for you. He did that purposely
to conceal our gentleman agreement.
Whoever feels so concern can call me on 08034523698 to
hear more.
I Thank you.
Mr. Ejiro,
Organizer, MBGA.
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