Davido blow for Jah Prayzah…… Nigerian superstar fails to make it for album launch

By Bongani Ndlovu

African hip hop star Davido yesterday failed to make it for Jah Prayzah’s Kutonga Kwaro album launch in Harare as he is embroiled in a murder case concerning his close friend Tagbo Umeike in Nigeria with police there questioning him over his involvement.

Davido, who was reportedly paid $90 000, was supposed to support Jah Prayzah who he did a collaboration with on the song My Lilly at the album launch pencilled for the Harare International Conference Centre.

Organisers of the show, 2 Kings Entertainment, issued a statement on Thursday night announcing that Davido would not be part of the album launch because of “circumstances beyond their control”.

Winky D and Oliver Mtukudzi were roped in to rescue the situation.

Events that happened on October 3 in Nigeria where Davido’s close confidant Umeike died in what police said was suffocation, have come back to haunt him. Umeike died on his birthday at a bar in Nigeria after allegedly taking 40 shots of Tequila.

Two other close pals of the Nigerian muso, DJ Olu and Chime, died four days after the passing of Umeike with the hip hop superstar breaking the news on his Instagram handle last Saturday night.

DJ Olu, son to Nigerian billionaire Dapo Abiodun, and Chime, were reportedly found dead in the former’s car in unclear circumstances.

It seems Davido gave statements to the police that were laced with untruths.

According to The Vanguard newspaper, the police in Nigeria have concluded arrangements to transfer the case over the death of Davido’s friends to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, SCIID for further investigations.

Police sources revealed that Davido was allowed to go home after the interrogation, which lasted for some hours.

However, other suspects in the case were said to still be in police custody pending the completion of the process of transfer and other requirements that will aid detectives in their investigations.

It was also learned that Davido was advised to make himself available any time his attention was needed, a request he freely consented to.

So as of Thursday police were questioning Davido about the whole issue and this affected his appearance yesterday.

Meanwhile, Davido has broken his silence over the whole situation saying he was not responsible for his friends’ deaths.

Through Davido’s legal adviser, Norrison Quakers (SAN) published on The Punch Nigeria, the If hit-maker said he was never arrested by the police; rather he made himself available for questioning.

“Our client maintains that he has not in any way lied about what he knows about the unfortunate incident, neither has his statement to the police been incoherent as unfortunately being presented in the media”.

Davido also released CCTV footage from the Shisha lounge where he last saw the deceased before the tragic incident. The Chronicle