Controversy has since the beginning of time being a part of the Nigerian Music Industry. It’s not rare to see a popular act involved in one or two controversies at some point.
2020 hasn’t been the year most people expected starting with the Coronavirus putting almost every part of the world on lockdown and the Nigerian Music Industry wasn’t spared as shows and events had to be canceled and artists have to find other ways to stay relevant.
Probably it’s due to the fact that a large percentage of the world is at home that’s why a lot of secrets and embarrassing stories are coming to light. The Nigerian Music Industry has seen its fair share of those controversial moments.
While just half of the year is gone, Nigerian artists have been embroiled in scandals and controversies that it’s almost becoming the norm.
Though most times the controversies weren’t started by an artist himself and most of them are still allegations that haven’t been confirmed to be true.
RAPE ALLEGATIONS
During the months of May and June, Rape stories became the most talked about issues on Social Media. This was brought about by the death of a Benin Student, Uwa who was found raped and murdered in a church where she had gone to study.
Nigerians started to take a deeper look in rape issues and from there a series of rape stories started coming out to the surface. Twitter was the platform for these stories and even popular Twitter Influencers were accused of rape.
Things started taking a different turn when Nigerian celebrities were also accused of rape.
Zoro
Nigerian contemporary rapper, Zoro was accused by an Instagram user with the username Mystic_sweetness. The lady accused the rapper of raping her on 20th April 2015 in Magodo at the house of a mutual friend.
Zoro in response through his social media pages denied the allegations and even went as far as petitioning the Lagos Police Command to investigate the supposed rape accusations.
He however since then hasn’t given any new update to how the case is faring.
Peruzzi
Peruzzi in just this year alone has been accused of rape twice. The first allegation came in January when a dancer by the name of daffy Blanco accused Peruzzi of defrauding her of 15 Million Naira and trying to have his way with her. She said the singer later blamed his actions on him being drunk and even posted audio recordings of him trying to console her.
The second lady who goes by the name, Princess in the month of July shared her own story on Twitter on how Peruzzi raped her in 2012 when she visited him with a mutual friend by the name Aisha.
Peruzzi in response to Princess’s allegations went on Instagram Live with the Aisha in question who claimed that Princess was lying about the allegation as the rape never happened.
However, it didn’t take long for Twitter users to dig up old tweets of Peruzzi‘ where he made some controversial statements justifying rape as a punishment for unyielding ladies.
Peruzzi took to Social Media to apologize blaming the old tweets on his immaturity back then. He also deleted the said tweets.
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D’banj
D’banj was accused of rape by a talent scout, Benjamin Ese who slammed the singer for standing against rape when he raped his friend.
According to Benjamin, D’banj raped his friend whose name at first wasn’t disclosed in her hotel room. The lady involved later came out to the public and identified herself as Seyitan and narrated the full story of what happened.
First, D’banj was mute on the issue as he had just celebrated his birthday, then later after a few days, posted a statement on social media.
In his statement. he denied the allegations and said he was suing Seyitan for damages made to his reputation. Things then escalated when news of Seyitan reportedly arrested by the police on the order of D’banj came out.
The singer was criticized heavily on social media for trying to intimidate his accuser and even other celebrities waded into the issue including his longtime friend, Don Jazzy who in a statement said he was recusing himself from the issue.
Yung6ix Vs DJ Timmy
Though no one knows how, things went sour between rapper, Yung6ix, and his former DJ and Hypeman, DJ Timmy.
DJ Timmy in the month of March went on social media to call out his former friend, Yung6ix. .This frustration arose from his time as a DJ and Hypeman for Nigerian rapper, Yung6ix.
Yung6ix claimed he was allegedly forced to live a fake life by buying an N11 million car and renting a N2.5 million apartment just to work with Yung6ix. He claimed he lost it all and was “back to level 0.” After buying a bottle of insecticide, Sniper in 2019, the DJ almost committed suicide and even wrote a suicide note.
Yung6ix in reply to DJ Timmy’s accusations shaded and told him not to commit suicide. Adding that he is a grown man so there was definitely no way he could manipulate him like that.
Burna Boy and the Fela situation
Burna Boy isn’t new to controversies but for some reason, they always come before he is about to drop a new song.
Burna Boy earlier in February took to Twitter to declare that after late Fela Kuti, he was the best to thing to happen to Afrobeat.
His statement didn’t sit well with people who in turn criticize him for his arrogance. But Burna Boy, as usual, wasn’t fazed by the backlash. he went on to drop a new single called, “Odogwu” which means Big Chief or Man in the Igbo language.
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Davido – Alleged fourth Baby mama and alleged domestic abuse
Davido whether by choice or not would always be involved in one controversy or the other. After he declared he was going on social media break till the release of his forthcoming album, “A Better Time”, rumors started flying around that he had a fourth baby mama who gave birth to a baby boy for him.
Davido, however, didn’t confirm nor deny the rumors but things heated up, as another set of rumors of him and his fiancee, Chioma fighting over the alleged baby mama surfaced. It was also said that he beat Chioma so badly while another story has it that Chioma pushed him resulting in him having a broken leg.
Chioma later took to Instagram to deny the domestic abuse rumors and threaten to sue if they continue to propagate these rumors.
M.I Abaga Vs Sarz
This particular controversy was a joke gone bad. It all started during an Instagram live session between M.I Abaga and Blaqbonez where M.I shared a story of how he took Sarz on his first club outing and when they were about to leave, he discovered that Sarz had ejaculated.
However, Sarz slammed M.I publicly for sharing a made-up story and trying to dent his reputation. M.I later apologized and revealed that the story was a joke which Blaqbonez confirmed.
Naira Marley Vs Funke Akindele Vs Execujets
Naira Marley who is the unofficially the king of controversy in the Nigerian Music Industry got into trouble after attending a birthday party held by Funke Akindele for her Husband, JJC’s birthday.
Naira Marley was arraigned before a court where he was let off with community service and a fine as punishment.
However, he got involved in another crazy situation where an event he performed in at Abuja had attendees flouting the COVID-19 regulations set by the Federal Government.
Though he wasn’t arrested or fined, the private jet that flew him to Abuja was suspended for lying on their manifesto.
The owner of the Jet company in an apology letter addressed to the Minister of Aviation said that he thought the trip was being made by the Minister for Power, Babatunde Fashiola who bears the same name as Naira Marley’s brother.
He also called Naira Marley and the others who took the flight useless people. Naira Marley in response slammed the Owner and called his Marlian members to boycott the company.