The 2013
edition of the
Most Beautiful Girl in Abuja has come and gone
with many still talking about the success of the
event; however, mix reaction continues to trail the
outcome of the event over the controversial
revelation by Ruggedman about his experience in
the hands of the organizers.
Ruggedman who supposedly attended the event
alongside other top celebrities to include former
Super Eagles Coach, Samson Siasia, Sylver Nduka,
MBGN (2011), Oge Okoye, Chuks the General,
Matilda Duncan, Fred Bright and a host of others
walked away from Abuja, claiming to had been
duped by the convener of the event, Mr Ejiro
Ekhipwo. In Ruggedman's long write-up, he had
rained curses on the organizers for failing to pay
him his N100,000 honorarium for the show, and for
letting him fly back without a return ticket.
But in a swift reaction on behalf of the organizers,
Mr. Ejiro denied having done anything wrong to
Ruggedman, threatening to sue him for not
heeding to the terms of their agreement. He said
Ruggedman had pleaded to perform at the show,
just to build more fan base as he is about to drop a
new album. He said that the so called honorarium
that Ruggedman was 'hammering on was only
N50,000 and not N100,000 as he had alleged.
Ejiro had in a statement issued in Abuja and
obtained by DailyPost ,presented his own side of
the story.
Mr Ejiro had said vehemently that not in the
history of the entertainment industry had an artist
of Ruggedman's status humiliated himself over
such a little amount of money as claimed.
The statement below:
Hear my own side of the story before you crucify
me:
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 for 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
list, we expected him to pick up 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 bear, 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 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
from 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 agreement.
Whoever feels so concern can call me on
08034523698 to hear more.
I Thank you.
Mr. Ejiro,
Organizer, MBGA. www.oseni9ja..com/2013/11/ruggedman-begged-me-to-be-one-of-mbga.html?m=1