Kizz Daniel breaks silence on court order to freeze his accounts over contract dispute

Kizz Daniel breaks silence on court order to freeze his accounts over contract dispute

Kizz Daniel, the Nigerian singer, has refuted online rumours alleging a court order froze his accounts due to a breached performance contract for a 2022 concert in Berlin.

The rumours claimed that the singer defaulted on his agreement to perform at the Afrobeats Meets Berlin concert in September 2022, after receiving part payment.

But in a statement released on Wednesday, the artiste’s management labelled the claims as “false, misleading, and defamatory”.

It argued that the concert’s promoter Kejuro Media & Entertainment was responsible for the event’s cancellation.

The statement said Kizz Daniel had a duly signed performance agreement with the organisers of the Berlin concert.

The management said the promoter, however, “failed to meet fundamental obligations, including securing visas and flights for the artiste and his team, which led to the event being cancelled”.

“It has come to our attention that a false and malicious narrative is being circulated with the sole aim of discrediting our artiste, Oluwatobiloba Daniel Anidugbe professionally known as Kizz Daniel and undermining his forthcoming Europe Tour,” the statement reads.

“We state unequivocally that our artiste is a professional who upholds his contractual obligations and makes extraordinary sacrifices to ensure his fans worldwide enjoy his craft.

“By virtue of the duly executed performance agreement dated 27th July 2022, we were engaged to perform at the Afrobeats Meets Berlin concert on 24th September 2022. The promoter, Kejuro Media & Entertainment, failed woefully to fulfill its fundamental obligations under the agreement, including the procurement of visas and flights for our artiste and his team.

“Unsurprisingly, the event did not hold because it was “cancelled” by the promoter due to reasons never expressly communicated with us nor relating to us or our artiste. On 26th September 2022, the promoter attempted to unilaterally reschedule the concert to 8th April 2023.”

The statement noted that Kizz Daniel’s team was willing to perform on a new date but only under fresh commercial terms, with the initial deposit non-refundable as per their agreement.

The management emphasised that the promoter “never finalised these new terms”.

“We made it clear that any rescheduling, being occasioned by the promoter’s own breach, could only be entertained on fresh commercial terms and would warrant no refund of deposit paid as expressly provided in the agreement. In fact, by virtue of the signed agreement, we are entitled to full payment in the event that such cancellation is at the instance of a breach by the promoter,” it added.

The statement also sought to cast doubt on the promoter’s “credibility” by pointing out that other contracted artistes, including Teni and Diamond Platnumz, have no record of performing at the festival, and all social media pages for the Afrobeats Meets Berlin event have “mysteriously vanished”.

The singer’s team accused the promoter of a “malicious” campaign to sabotage Kizz Daniel’s upcoming Europe tour by sending threatening communications to his new tour promoters.

They challenged the promoter to provide evidence of having secured the necessary visas and flights for the original 2022 date.

“Despite the foregoing, we graciously agreed to a modest upward revision in fees, but the promoter never regularised our engagement for the rescheduled date. We need to emphasise that our artiste was not the only artiste affected. Respected talents such as Teni and Diamond Platnumz were also contracted but for some reasons, there are no traces of such performances on the internet,” they added.

“We find it bewildering that all social media platforms linked to Afrobeats Meets Berlin have mysteriously vanished. To further expose the malicious intention of this promoter, his publication to the blogs does not carry any substantial evidence of this alleged breach neither does it bear the name nor date of the said festival.

“Regrettably, this same promoter has now resorted to malicious tactics aimed at sabotaging Kizz Daniel’s forthcoming Europe tour. We have received reports of threatening communications to our lead Europe tour promoter, falsely alleging a breach by our artist and the existence of a court judgment. We categorically state that no such process has been served on our artiste.

“Even if such a claim existed, it would only reveal the promoter’s desperate and malicious attempt to malign and cripple our business reputation owing to the fact the promoter is infact grossly in breach of our agreement. If the promoter claims that we were in breach, we dare him to provide evidence of visas secured and flights booked for September 24th, 2022.

“We hereby place the general public, stakeholders, and the media on notice: Any narrative suggesting that Kizz Daniel defaulted in respect of Afrobeats Meets Berlin 2022 is false, misleading, and defamatory. Our legal team is actively reviewing all defamatory publications and shall not hesitate to institute appropriate proceedings against the promoter and any third parties complicit in propagating such misinformation.

“Kizz Daniel remains committed to his fans across Europe and the world, and
preparations for the Europe tour continue in earnest.”