Afrobeat Singer, #Davido, Amaju Pinnick Fight Dirty Over $94,600 Payment
By THECONSCIENCEng
The war of words between popular Afrobeat singer, David Adeleke, aka Davido, and Former President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, over a $94,600 musical performance payment made to the former, has continued to escalate.
Pinnick had fired the first salvo, publicly calling out the singer for failing to perform at an event in Warri, Delta State despite being paid $94,600.
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Speaking during the 19th edition of Warri Again event which held on Oct 6 to celebrate entertainers who hail from the Niger Delta region, Amaju claimed the organisers also booked a private jet for $18,000 for the ‘Unavailable Crooner’ but he never showed up.
He stated that the organisers had to replace him with another act, Shallipopi.
According to him: “We paid Davido $94,600 on the 6th of April. We paid $18,000 for his plane.
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“If he says he’s a big boy, we will tell him we are bigger than him.
“I’m not joking. So, while he was playing his games back and forth, we decided to hunt to find another artiste, Shallipopi.
“You see, when people say they are big, I’m amazed. Is Burna Boy not the biggest artiste in Nigeria today? Burna Boy is half Itsekiri. Burna Boy’s paternal grandmother is Itsekiri. So, he’s bigger than him (Davido).
“Is there anyone bigger than RMD in the acting industry? Or someone bigger than Ali Baba in the comedy industry?
“We have stars aplenty in Warri. Nobody is bigger than Warri.”
However, the Afrobeat star in series of posts on X, on Saturday, clarified that he had informed organisers of his unavailability months before the event, insisting that nobody could stop him from performing anywhere in Nigeria.
He also wondered why the organisers kept promoting the show with his name.
Reassuring his fans in Delta, he promised to fix a new date for the performance in Warri
He assured fans in Warri that he would be in their city soon.
“Nobody can stop me from performing anywhere in Nigeria… Warri I will see you soon,” he wrote.
He also posted a picture of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) logo with the caption; “Make I no talk.”
“To my lovely fans in Warri that spent their hard earned money to come out. Apologies you had to experience this. I was not going to be physically able to make it and this had been communicated to ‘them’ for a longgggg while now I mean MONTHS ago but for reasons best known to them, they continued to promote the show using my name. It’s a shame.”
Davido in another post vowed not to refund the $94,600 (about 72 million naira) allegedly paid to him.
He said instead he would double the money and give it to a football charity organisation.
In a direct attack, he described Pinnick as “Mr Dream Crusher”, alleging that many Nigerian footballers have had their dreams crushed because of Pinnick’s greed.
On his Instagram story, Davido wrote, “If I’m returning any money, I’ll return it to any football charity organization.
“In fact, I will double it….. Mr Dream Crusher… imagine how many Nigerian footballers have had their dreams crushed because person one lives for Ikoyi by force.” he wrote.
Warri Pple hate you! And u know! Amaju come outside let’s talk!
“I wanna donate money to @thenffofficial been suffering for too long it’s not fair … let’s do something @puma”
