Ruggedman Replies Promoter over MBGA controversy
A few weeks ago, the Most Beautiful Girl in Abuja pageant was held in Abuja, and one time Ace Rapper, Micheal Stephens, popularly called Ruggedman was slated to perform but he didn’t show up at the event.
A lot of controversy accompanied his absence as one of the organisers of the show, Ejiro Okpiwho has claimed that the rapper is a fraud. The promoter said Ruggedman called and begged him to be made an award recipient and performing artiste at the event.
He claimed they made an informal agreement in which the organisers were expected to buy the artiste to-and-fro air tickets from Lagos to Abuja for him and his “so-called back-up singer”, pay him N100,000 and also pay for hotel accommodation and feeding for the time they would spend in Abuja.
“We sent him the tickets reference number (ZYRBRL-Aero contractors) and he came into Abuja on Friday, 25th of October 2013 and was picked up from the airport without delay. He was also checked into a classic hotel (Top Rank Galaxy Hotel,2 rooms) alongside other celebrities as agreed, with food and drinks on ground for him to enjoy a day before the event.
“But unfortunately for us, Ruggedman refused to pick calls placed to him to get the N100.000 agreed upon by the two parties. In fact, He went ahead to even show some other artistes that also came for the event with him in the same hotel we kept him, that see, see, see the organizers of the event are calling me. I will not pick, I will make them suffer since they have refused to see me since yesterday when I arrived, we really wondered why our own Ruggedman would wish to disgrace himself over a N100. 000 ONLY.
“At least we expected that he picks his calls and we talk on how he wants the payment to come to him, 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 N100.000 ONLY.”
He called the artiste names and said he only wanted to help him revive his career. Okpiwho promised that the organisers’ lawyers would serve Ruggedman for damages soon and advised the rapper to stop mentioning his name in a bid to sell his album.
The rapper has however said his bit of the story, claiming the promoter was instead, the fraudster in the situation. He claimed people like Okpiwho just liked to take advantage of his good nature.
He said they did make an agreement but that the promoter didn’t pay him the money they agreed upon. He claimed the promoter called him and told him he would pay N50,000 when he landed in Abuja but didn’t; and he had to pay for the welfare he and his artiste enjoyed.
“The event was slated to start by 7pm and by 6pm I sent Ejiro Okhipwo a BB message that I will not leave the hotel room if he doesn’t pay what was agreed because i was already suspecting foul play. No response and we lodged till the next day.
“SUNDAY: hotel management informs us that Ejiro Okhipwo said everyone should check out of the hotel by 12noon. We called him only for him to send me text messages that “I am heartless for not coming to his show and will fuck me up” LMAO!!!
“A show that he did not pay the lean honourarium “we” agreed to? The deal was to pay before I leave Lagos, I even managed to get to Abuja and he did not have the courtesy to come see us? Even if he did not have the money to pay, I have done loads of free shows for small time promoters like him. His would not have killed me”.
He advised other artistes to be careful when working with the promoter as he “was speaking from experience”.