Famous Afrobeat singer Davido is the target of a 2.3 billion naira lawsuit. Amaju Pinnick, a popular ex-president of the NFF, has criticized this action and demanded a four-day public apology for allegedly breaking a commitment to show up for a gig.
Recall that last month, Amaju Pinnick had contacted the DMW music executive to express his disappointment over his failure to show up for the October “Warri Again?” show in Delta State.
The owner of Brownhill Investments Company Limit, which puts on the annual exhibition, Mr. Amaju, filed a lawsuit in Effurun’s Delta State High Court with the case number EHC/183/2023.
It was learned that the claimant, acting through its legal representative, Mr. Kelechi Onwuegbuchulem, sought N2 billion in damages from the musician and his record company.
Additionally, the claimant prays that the court award against the Afrobeats singer the sum of N150m as legal and professional fees and an additional sum of N30m as the cost of filing the suit.
Furthermore, they want the court to order Davido “to tender a public apology on all the 1st defendant’s social media accounts/handles and in two national daily newspapers for four consecutive days, to the claimant and attendees.”
According to the claimant’s statement of claim, Davido met Pinnick at the Abuja Airport sometime in early 2023 and requested to be contracted for the 19th edition of the “Warri Again Concert,” which is scheduled for October 6, 2023.
The claimant stated that although Pinnick was first unwilling to comply, in the end he obliged, and they decided on N70 million as Davido’s performance fee.
It continued by saying that on April 6, 2023, the amount of US$94,500.00, or the equivalent of N70 million, was paid, and the defendants officially recognized it.
According to the report, Davido recorded a promotional video following the payment, but on the day of the event, he did not show up.
The claimant maintained to have spent enormous sums of money on print and social media advertisements and promotions for the event. It further claimed that on September 29, 2023, exactly one week prior to the scheduled date of the event, Davido received a formal letter of reminder regarding the event, along with the flight itinerary of the private jet that was chartered specifically to transport him and his team to and from Warri, Delta State, for the event, incurring additional costs of $18,000.
It said, however, that all efforts to get in contact with Davido and his group on October 6, 2023, the day of the event, were ineffective, and that the private plane that was scheduled to transport Davido and his group to Warri at the Lagos Airport was left available in case they later turned up at the airport.
As a result, Pinnick’s business is requesting payment of $94,500 in full for contracting Davido’s services which he failed to deliver.