Ademola Olonilua and Timileyin Akinkahunsi
Around 2010, King Wadada, also known as Austin Peter, was seen as the upcoming king of reggae in Nigeria and Africa. The reggae singer was so big that he won the Kora Awards as Africa’s best reggae artist of the year.
Despite the high hopes his fans had for him, after a short while, nothing was heard from the artiste. In a chat with Saturday Beat, he revealed that he became a cobbler and that he was not ashamed of it.
He said, “When I was nominated for the Kora Awards in 2010, I did not have a sponsor so I reached out to a man, Uzo, who helped me canvass for votes and also assisted with the money for the trip to travel to receive the award.
“He said he believed I would win and decided to be my sponsor. When we got there, I won the award and he stood in as my manager. The money was later paid into his account and after a while, when I did not hear anything from the organisers of the award, I called them to find out what was happening and they told me that they had given the money – $20,000 -to my manager.
“When I called him, he told me that Kora Awards only gave him part of the money and that he wanted to use it to ‘package’ me. During the Kora concert, I played with Akon and Rihanna (international superstars) and from there; I was given another contract to perform in Germany. After we performed in Germany, he ran away with the money I was paid. He said that he wanted us to be like D’banj and Don Jazzy at the time. I really believed in him.
“When we were in Germany, Rihanna’s manager at the time, offered me a deal but I noticed that my manager was not enthusiastic about it, so I stuck with him because I saw him as somebody who really believed in me. I did not want a situation whereby I would be the one to disappoint him. I did not want to be the one to destroy the plan that we had, unknown to me that he had other ulterior motives. Immediately we arrived in Nigeria, he ran away with my money and passport. I was not able to collect my passport till after two years and by that time, it had already expired.”
The singer also hinted that at the peak of his career, he was able to record a song with Rihanna. He, however, explained the reason why the song had not been released.
“I did a track with Rihanna, which we recorded in 2010 but I have not released the song because I have not been able to see her for the visual (effects). It really affected my career and that was why I was not vibrant for a long while, I am glad that I am back now,” Wadada said.
However, Uzo, in a telephone interview, denied all the allegations levelled against him by Wadada, saying the singer was only seeking cheap publicity. He added that since the beginning of the year, Wadada had been begging him to come back and be his manager.
“Do you know Wadada? Don’t you know Wadada? He would do a poster for his show and put the likes of Tuface and everybody that he knows that would not attend the show. Wadada is sick. If I speak, he will get the attention he wants. He is irrelevant. I helped his career and you can check it out on YouTube.
“You would see what I did for him on stage at the Kora Concert. I shot videos for him free of charge. I was the one that paid for his first flight out of Nigeria. Before then, no one had ever taken him anywhere, not even to Cotonou in Benin Republic. I managed him and put him on the same stage with Akon in Benin Republic. I took him to different countries. Every good thing that happened to his career after he sang, Holy Holy, was through me.
“Wadada has been begging me since the beginning of this year to drop Majek Fashek as my artiste and resume managing him. He said I should drop Majek Fashek because he was sick and he promised that this time would be better. I never did anything like that for Wadada and he is saying all this because he is seeking attention; cheap promotion,” Uzo said.
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