Nigerian pop star, Davido, has refuted the allegations made by former NFF boss, Amaju Pinnick, that he collected N72 million to perform at the Warri Again festival but failed to show up.
In a statement posted on his Instagram story on Sunday, Davido said he had informed the event organisers months ago that he would not be able to attend the show due to other commitments. However, he claimed that they continued to use his name and image to promote the show without his consent.
He apologised to his fans in Warri who had paid to see him perform and promised to make it up to them with a bigger and better show in the future.
He wrote, “To my lovely fans in Warri that spent their hard-earned money to come out apologies that 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. But especially for my fans out there, don’t worry, you know I gotta bring Timeless to Delta State. We will do it proper, bigger and better!
Davido’s statement came after Pinnick blasted him for disappointing the people of Warri who had expected him to grace the stage at the annual festival. Pinnick said Davido had received $94,600 (about N72 million) as payment for the show and also had a private jet arranged for him for $18,000. He accused Davido of being unprofessional and disrespectful and vowed to teach him a lesson.
Pinnick also compared Davido unfavourably to Burna Boy, who he said was a bigger artist and had more connection to Warri than Davido. He said Burna Boy would never do such a thing to his people.
He said, “Davido, you are a disgrace. You collected $94,600 from us and you didn’t show up. You also wasted $18,000 we paid for your private jet. You are very unprofessional and disrespectful. You think you are bigger than Warri? You are not bigger than Burna Boy. Burna Boy is our son and he would never do this to us. He has more talent and more respect than you. You need to learn from him. You need to be humble. You need to know that pride comes before a fall. I will teach you a lesson you will never forget.”
