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| Oritsefemi caught up in promoter drama. |
A lot of drama seems to be following Oritsefemi around lately.He survived an armed robbery attack only last night,Friday 5th Dec and now he is engulfed in a controversy with a promoter.
Following the disagreement and drama that ensued from Oritsefemi’s recent Europe tour where he was accused of absconding from Europe and ignoring shows he’d been payed to perform, the show promoter and organizers of the tour, Alex Ozone
has threatened to sue the musician. In his reaction however, Oritsefemi and his team issued a statement declaring that Alex Ozone is actually wanted for fraud in Europe. You may recall that news broke recently that the popular music star was reportedly contracted to perform on a month-long European tour of ten cities by Alex Ozone’s 03 Media. The artiste departed Nigeria on November 9, 2014 with Alex for Europe, but allegedly absconded from Europe without fulfilling his contractual obligations.
A lot of stories and reports have made rounds in the media about this issue recently. NET however obtained detailed statements from both camps and here present them. Below are the statements.
Alex Ozone’s Statement: The CEO of 03 Media, an events and artist management outfit owned by Alex Ozone hereby wishes to debunk false statements being peddled around by Oritsefemi and his MSN Gang team about the European tour where he absconded from his hotel room in Czech Republic without fulfilling his contractual obligations to 03 Media and Urban Entertainment who entered into partnership to organise the said event. Be it known to all men and all businesses around the world: That Nigerian songwriter and singer Oritsefemi is still under contract with Urban Entertainment in Czech Republic through 03 Media Limited, Nigeria to embark on a month-long European tour of ten cities at the rate of £1500 per show.
He has been paid a total amount of £6500 as upfront payment. That Alex Ozone of 03 Media Limited is a recognized and trusted show promoter who organised Davido’s first European tour, and has subsequently carried out a hitch-free European campaign for Terry G and Chuddy K respectively, before contracting Oritsefemi on this particular tour. 03 Media has never been incriminated in any shady deals in Europe before as being painted by Oritsefemi and his team. There is law and order in Europe and Alex Ozone would have been imprisoned if he is found culpable of fraudulent activities. That Oritsefemi left Lagos, Nigeria with our partner Alex Ozone on November 8, 2014 and landed in Padova, Italy on November 9, 2014 in preparation for the month-long European tour of ten cities. He however absconded from his hotel room back to Nigeria to request an increase in his fees from £1500 to £5000 after performing at just two shows and signing all contract papers.
That we find it immature and irresponsible for Oritsefemi and his team to lie that there was an agreement that four members of his team were to be taken along with the artist for the tour. Let it be clear to the whole wide world that MSN Gang is an unorganized venture where there is no division of labour. The artist hardly travels out of the country for events with his erstwhile manager named Danku and his cohorts of unfortunate illiterates. That Oritsefemi unilaterally makes business decisions and arranges meetings without the presence of his management team who hardly travel with him. On the issue of passports: the tour was initially planned for August 2014 but was postponed because of Oritsefemi’s nomination at the Nigerian Entertainment Awards in the United States, where he was expected to perform. We do admit that it was initially planned to get two visas for Oritsefemi and his manager, but the outbreak of the Ebola epidemic made awards of French visas an arduous task.
Due to the urgency of the event, Oritsefemi was awarded an express visa being the performing artist, and he assured that his team was cool with the decision. He said Danku would apply later which the later agreed, but actions were not expedited on his visa application because Danku claimed he does not have fifty thousand naira (N50,000) to pay for visa fee. His documents are still with our travelling agent if anybody wants to make verifications of our own part of the story. Oritsefemi however requested the payment of the initial Three hundred thousand naira (N300,000) which is equivalent to £1,500 for the first show. We later discovered though, that he lied to Danku that he was paid just N150,000. Let it be known that Oritsefemi and his team have been denied visas on three different occasions but we nailed it for him in just three days being a recognized event management outfit. That this breach of contract and character defamation case has been reported to the police authorities and the Nigerian Embassy in Czech Republic.
Our lawyers have started works on the matter and shall make reports in Lagos in a short while. Oritsefemi and his cohorts shall be served their court papers in due course. We attached herewith copies of Western Union Money Transfer receipts paid to Oritsefemi, and his manager, Danku who collected the last installment of £1000. The documents include: Engagement agreement duly signed by Oritsefemi and his manager in our Lagos office. Western Union transfer receipts to Oritsefemi and Danku. The video clip Oritsefemi recorded for his Padova performance for November 23, 2014. The video clip for his November 22, 2014 performance in Stuttgart.
Oritsefemi’s Management speaks: ‘MSN Gang and Avatar, the companies that recently signed Oritsefemi Ekele Majemite have declared former Terry G manager, Alex Ozone wanted for fraud. According to the Media Manager to MSN Gang and Avatar Management, Tijani Adegbola, Alex Ozone paraded himself as Oritsefemi’s manager and defrauded musical promoters in Europe.
In France, Germany and other countries across Europe, Alex collected a lot of money from several entertainment outfits. As we speak, Alex Ozone took our passports away. He vowed he would take them to the embassy for visas. Suddenly, he dumped them somewhere that we could not even locate till date. He later submitted our artiste’s passport alongside his own and claimed he is the manager to the artiste at the French embassy in Lagos. This wasn’t clear to the team until the management requested for the items he took. One of the staffs working at the embassy revealed that he claimed he is the manager to the artiste that was why he was given visa.
Till date MSN Gang and Avatar don’t know where he dumped the passports he took away. More so, the promoters abroad later called MSN Gang’s lines in Nigeria and revealed that we should save their images because Ozone had collected huge amounts of money from them but they later found out that he never gave any money to the management. After all these illicit deals, the management found out that Oritsefemi’s image in Europe has been severely dented because Ozone has been telling the whole world that the artiste and his management have collected huge amounts of money from him without traveling to perform abroad.
As you read this, the passports he absconded with have been reported to the Inspector General of Police in Abuja, Nigeria. Till now, Mr. Alex Ozone is nowhere to be found. The management however released an official statement that all shows both local and international that are not approved by management AVATAR and MSN Gang is not genuine and Oritsefemi will not partake in any performance anywhere. So, we urge you all to be careful of fraudulent local and international managers who impersonate just to scam clients in the name of Oritsefemi.’
Robbery or assassination attempt? Oritsefemi’s brand new N24 million Range Rover Evoque was totaled in the early hours of Saturday, December 6, 2014 as he reportedly attempted to escape from armed assailants who attacked him along the expressway in front of the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos. You might recall that at an exclusive event held on Sunday, November 30, 2014 at Blowfish Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, the singer was officially presented with the new car by his new management company, Avatar. According to the artiste’s manager, Danku who narrated the incident exclusively to NET on Saturday morning, the self-styled ‘musical taliban’ ran the new jeep into a trailer as he tried to escape.
Danku, who was also in the car, disclosed that: ‘We were on our way from Surulere to meet with Bangalee (D’Banj) on the island because Oritsefemi and D’banj are on the same flight to South Africa to perform at the BB Hotshots finals tomorrow. But, as soon as we got to Stadium this black tinted corolla with four armed men inside started following us. I think they actually wanted to kill Femi because they just opened fire on us and kept shooting. Oritsefemi was the one driving and he didn’t stop, but as he was trying to dodge and escape them, we ran into a trailer.’ He further explained that the armed robbers fled the scene when the crash happened. Fortunately, Oritsefemi escaped unhurt and, as at press time, should still be able to make the trip to South Africa. Danku, on the other hand, sustained a couple of cuts and bruises and was briefly hospitalized....
Now this story told to The Net is totally different to the statement released by Oritsefemi's management(see HERE) which was released today 6th December.In that statement,it was claimed Danku was driving the Range Rover,there also was not a single mention of gunshots in that release,surely they couldn't have forgotten to omit such details could they?I always thought that story was dodgy..i have an idea of what i think happened ,but i'm keeping that to myself.
The NET Nigera contributed to this story.