Ruggedman recently called on
all entertainers to stay away from Abuja-based promoter and founder of Most
Beautiful Girl Pageant in Abuja, Ejiro Okhipwo, because he is a
‘fraudster/trickster’ and not to be trusted. Well, Ejiro is not going to keep
silence over such weighty allegations, so here is his side of the story (very
lengthy though).
First of all, I'm
embarrassed that this man, Ruggedman, could bring himself so low by exposing
his own shame publicly in the media. I'm embarrassed because no artiste could
have done what this guy did to us even when we felt we were doing him a big
favour.
Look, I have organized
several editions of this event, and different artistes have graced our event,
but we have never been swindled before.
This is our first
experience, and unfortunately, it's an artiste who has lost audience appeal
that did this to us. I had wanted to let this pass, but since he has gone to
humiliate himself in the media, I will follow this up.
I'm consulting with my
lawyer at the moment, and we may be suing ruggedman for defamation of
character, and his failure to heed to our earlier agreement with him.
It's amazing the way
Ruggedman misbehaved. As a supposed respected elder in the business of
entertainment, we never expected that from him. No wonder he had a fight with
his boy, 9ice who became bigger and better than him in the music game.
Now my story:
Quite frankly, what we do
when we are bringing an artiste to our show is to pay the person upfront, you
give us your most convenient time to travel, and we book your return ticket.
It's laughable and extremely ridiculous that
Ruggedman is claiming we
were to pay him honorarium of N100,000. I couldn't have paid him N100, 000 when
he was the one who begged us for the show. He said he wanted an award to get
himself acquainted with his Abuja fans.
This is not what we would
have loved to say in the public domain, if not that he has gone public, because
we respect all the artistes we deal with, no matter the status.
Having called me personally
to beg for the award, we told him, look, we will appreciate your appearance
after our event as we did not put you in our budget earlier.
We then booked his flight,
we sent him the tickets reference number and he came into Abuja on Friday, the
25th of October, 2013 and was picked up from the airport without delays. He was
also checked into a classic hotel with a four star value as agreed, with food
and drinks on ground for him to enjoy a day before the event.
Ruggedman refused to pick up
his calls: He had over 30 missed calls from us.
Unfortunately for the MBGA
organizers, Ruggedman refused to pick up calls placed to him. In fact, He went
ahead to even show some other artistes that were in the hotel with him , that "see, see, see, the organizers
of the event are calling me, but I will not pick, I will make them go through
hell since they have refused to see me since yesterday that I arrived’’
How could he have made such
claims?
Who picked him up from the
airport then? The pack of lies is clearly childish and pointless.
Our Bewilderment
We wondered at the change of
agreement and his refusal to pick up calls. The question was why was our own
Ruggedman disgracing himself over N50, 000 that we agreed to pay him after the
event?
At least, we expected him to
answer his calls and give us his new terms, but he never did.
Information got to us that
he was to have a meeting with some people that time over his album, the reason
he used our show to transport himself to Abuja.
We never believed that in
the first place, but it got clearer to me the next day, when this guy showed no
remorse towards his actions.
Funny enough, he was waiting
for his return ticket, and his honorarium, and we kept wondering ‘’ what are we
honouring him for?’’.
Appreciating him for eating
our food, drinking our beer, wasting our ticket money, time and energy?
Appreciating him for rudely
and unapologetically denying that we brought him into Abuja, appreciating him
for ignoring over 30 missed calls?
These were the series of
questions begging for answers.
Ruggedman, even at that, had
the guts to take our case to the media; the world is very funny.
Why only Ruggedman? Why not
other artistes?
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 N50,000 only?
His unbearable attitude and
its effect on his career
With an apology, I want to
say that Ruggedman is really not a good role model, and that has resulted to
his poor performance over time. I think the name rugged is influencing his life
and his career. He needs to redefine his name, and what he represents as an
artiste.
You cannot continue to fight
people who try to make you relevant as an entertainer. It's sad.
Why did we invite Ruggedman
and not an A-list artiste?
We knew this guy was not an
A-List artist, yet we went ahead to invite him to be awarded, Just to have him
get on track.
He attested to the fact that
we were creating visibility for him, but we were shocked at what we received
from him; insults, by putting up a very sad news just to tarnish the good name
and record of MBGA event.
We won't just let this pass.
We will ask some legal questions on why he should come out to castigate us
without reasons. We are very sorry for him; because he is going to pay the MBGA
for all damages he had caused the event.
Why we abandoned him in the
hotel after the event.
We admit that we abandoned
him at the hotel in Abuja after the event because he refused to perform his own
part of the gentlemen's agreement we had.
Would it have been nice to
pay him even when he refused to pick up our calls to perform at the show? Had
he performed at the show and we refused to pay him, then his media query would
have been a little reasonable.
How would he have expected
the MBGA to pay for his fare back to Lagos? He is a very nonsensical element
and should be treated as such.
This same Ruggedman stayed
in that same hotel on our bills from Friday, a day before the event till
Monday; that is two days after the event. So, we told the hotel to check him
out once its 12noon on Monday, the 28th of October 2013.
What kind human being is he?
How could he be talking
about God, when God is already angry with him? This God don suffer for people
mouth jor.
Our legal war!
Rugged man will hear from us
very soon. Our lawyers will serve him for damages and he will pay through his
nose.
It’s funny and unfortunate
that he can't even afford to answer a case at a competent court of law. I think
he needs some help, but he is yet to realize that.
How can an artiste be
fighting all through his career? Is that supposed to be his own calling?
Who threatened who?
I did not threaten him,
nobody did that, instead, he was using different people to threaten us. I think
the guy wants to use us to promote his album, but we won't let his gimmicks
distract us, as we will continue to pull great events for Abuja people."
Our appeal
We sincerely appeal to all
our fans to remain calm and focused, believing that we have better things for
them.
Everybody is a partner in
what we do. We do not have any police bosses as claimed by ruggedman.
He just deleted me from his
Blackberry contact; else, I would have copied all the chats I had with him for
you. He did that purposely to conceal our gentleman's agreement.
Whoever feels so concern can
call me on 08034523698 to hear more.
I Thank you.
Mr. Ejiro,
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