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Police detain Charlie Boy
BIODUN KUPOLUYI
Celebrated musician, Charles Oputa, was on Saturday detained at the Nigerian Police Headquarters, Abuja following his threat to disrupt the Nigerian Breweries Star Mega Jam and refusal to dissociate himself from a letter purportedly written to the American Embassy on safety of artistes billed to perform at the show.
Two American artistes, JA Rule and Kevin Lyttle alongside a couple of Nigerian artistes have been contracted to perform at the December 16 concert.
Oputa representing the Performing Musicians Asssociation of Nigeria (PMAN) had demanded N4million from Nigerian Breweries Plc being performance fees to be paid on American artistes invited to perform at the show.
Confirming his arrest yesterday, his colleague, Orits Wiliki, said it was a ‘mild drama’ that followed his invitation to Abuja by the Inspector General of Police, Mr Sunday Ehindero.
“The IG invited him to Abuja (Friday) and he went. Nobody knows why he was invited
“But when he got there he met a seven-man team from the Nigerian Breweries Plc and some policemen. It was about the Star Mega Jam. There were so many allegations against him and he said to them that what they were seen was beyond him. That if they had informed him about his mission in Abuja, he would have come with his own team.
NBL wanted him to write a letter back to the American Embassy that the show would hold without any hitch. But he said no that they were addressing the wrong person. He said he did not write any letter so he did not need to refute any letter, Charles did not write any letter to the American Embassy and PMAN did not.”
Wiliki disclosed that the purported letter to the American Embassy was written by an international organisation Federation of Intellectual Property Owners, and PMAN is a member by affiliation. “FIPO wrote the letter but they are accusing the wrong person. NBL is going about it the wrong way. The only way they could have gone about it is to deal with the issue and not the personality. If it costs them 850,000 US dollars to bring Ja Rule and 750,000US dollars to bring Kevin Lyttle from what we gathered and that’s about N210million. That’s enough to make Nigerian artistes happy for a whole year, afterall they are the ones drinking the beer.”
Asked how much PMAN wanted from NBL, Williki said, They know it afterall they are not paying it for the first time. They paid it when they brought 50 Cent last year. They paid N4m and we have asked them to pay the same performance fee.”
Oputa who has been detained since Saturday morning according to Wiliki and allowed to see visitors has briefed his lawyers in Abuja.
When contacted on phone by Sunday Punch, Chalie Oputa simply said, “it was interrogation, detention and battering.”
SUNDAY PUNCH, December 11, 2005
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