Ghanaian artiste Stonebwoy has broken silence on why he did not show up at the SallahFest held at Abeka on April 11, 2024.
Stonebwoy’s absence from the show raised concerns among the event patrons and other music enthusiasts.
On Hitz FM‘s morning show hosted by Andy Dosty, Stonebwoy disclosed the reason he did not perform at the event organised by Baba Sadiq Abdulai Abu, the Founder of 3Music Networks and the National Democratic Congress’s parliamentary candidate for the Okaikoi Central constituency.
According Stonebwoy, he was, made to believe that the event will be a charity show which would not require promotion nor fees for performers.
“We disengaged because he went ahead to post the flyers when we were not supposed to be advertised. Internally, we were not supposed to be advertised for this event.
We were not paid. It was not a paid event. Even if it was, we have our modus operandi where we would say okay, these are charity shows that I really wanna do. I have label situations going on where we have different ways. So these are charity shows, basically free shows, so the plan was not to be advertised. So why then did I do Nima? Nobody saw any proper advertisement. So they were in contact. By the time they would even finish for me to hear it, Baba Sadiq had gone ahead to post a flyer. He even posted a wrong flyer. I don’t know what his plans were, which is confirmed, we have screenshots,” he intimated.
He said his manager Chief Abiola communicated everything to the organisers of the SallahFest event until they saw another artiste advertised for the event few days later.
‘We couldn’t engage anymore and a few days later he goes ahead to advertise Shatta Wale. That is his event. It is normal. That is all that there was,” he said.
The organisers’ account
Meanwhile, the organiser Baba Sadiq had told Joy FM’s Kwame Dadzie on Showbiz A-Z that after several unsuccessful attempts to reach Stonebwoy and his team on the night of the event, he has finally got in touch with the team after the event.
“In the last few days, I’ve had to speak to him personally and his manager, Chief,” he said.
“We had reached out. Even on the day of the event we had reached out. We even sent a couple of messages and calls, so after it [the show], we thought that maybe at the right time they would get back on the calls, and that in our efforts to reach out to them, they will return the calls,” he added.
He further noted that Stonebwoy manager told him a few weeks ago that the ‘Baafira’ hitmaker was not happy with Shatta Wale’s addition to the artiste line-up for the concert.
“I was with Ricky. Ricky is my guy and I think that Chief had reached out to Ricky regarding a few things that he had seen online, and was speaking to him about it and then there was an opportunity to speak about Salah and what they felt about it. For example why after the event there wasn’t any communication regarding Shatta’s outburst.
“I think he makes the point that even on the day, on the night, they would have loved to come but they just were not comfortable with the inclusion of Shatta Wale,” he said.
About the 2024 Abeka SallahFest
Baba Sadiq held the 11th edition of his annual SalahFest on April 11, 2024 at Abeka in Accra. The event which was meant to foster social cohesion among the Okaikoi Central constituents and to climax the Ramadan festivities, had on the bill Shatta Wale, Wendy Shay, DopeNation, Larruso, Olivetheboy, and King Promise.
According to the creative entrepreneur and politician, this event goes beyond entertainment. He believes that it goes a long way foster social cohesion among the Okaikoi Central constituents and also comes with social cultural benefits.
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