For showbusiness industries the
size of Nigeria, it’s not uncommon that stakeholders grapple with hurdles and
scandals while leveraging on creative forces to put out contents and projects.
Yet, players in the country’s
entertainment scene have witnessed spectacular moments over the past months
that offset trends, put relatively unknown individuals in the spotlight, and
caused heated backlashes.
Some of these, no doubt, also
include narratives that topped newspaper editorials and dominated discussions
across social media platforms.
From Etinosa’s nudity scandal
with MC Galaxy and Dakolos’ protracted rape case against Fatoyinbo to
Bobrisky’s claims about severed genitals, here are five showbiz scene
controversies that rocked social media in 2019.
Naira Marley’s ride to fame on
EFCC cuffs
Many decried Marley’s stance on
the relevance of e-fraud and its European victims. But, before he could clarify
his points, operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
staged a massive crackdown on his team.
The street singer had charged
Nigerians to pray for fraudsters as they only “make money go round.” In the
eeriness of his assertions, he had taunted politicians for patronizing foreign
brands and “stashing away the country’s wealth.”
But shortly after his massively
streamed single ‘Am I a Yahoo Boy‘, where the Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS)
was teased, the singer found himself in cuffs and subsequently behind bars amid
a protracted cyberfraud case with EFCC.
While Marley’s arrest and
seemingly endless court sessions had seen him ride to fame on heated
backlashes, the singer’s journey this year undoubtedly makes him one of 2019’s
most controversial individuals in the entertainment scene.
Tonto Dikeh’s ’40 seconds’ saga
Amid several bouts of allegations
and refutals, Dikeh had longed bared lurid details on the crisis in her
marriage to Olakunle Churchill. But the stories climaxed after the actress came
with a new wave of outrageous claims.
Verbal missiles and legal threats
gave way to the actress alleging that Churchill had a clandestine life of cyber
fraud and voodoo and that the birth of their only child together came as the
product of Churchill’s “40 seconds sex.”
The claim, which made the
headlines, had come after the duo slugged it out over Churchill’s petition to
the IGP on Dikeh’s alleged illegal sale of their N22 million SUV following
their divorce.
Yet, Dikeh’s marriage troubles
alone aren’t the only peculiarities that marked her as a “no-nonsense”
individual in the showbiz scene. The 35-year-old actress had had altercations
with other notable figures in the country’s movie industry.
In a recent engagement with fans,
she had said her vagina is the most magical part of her body, shortly after
she, unlike many celebrities would do, admitted to undergoing plastic surgery
to better her physic and bum.
In her reaction to Femi Otedola’s
N5 billion donation to the northeast intervention, Dikeh had taken to social
media to ask what her own father was up to while the likes of Dangote,
Nigeria’s business mogul, got rich.
Fatoyinbo-Dakolo Rape Scandal
Suits have been filed and
counterclaims, made. Protests have been staged. Yet, the ongoing
Dakolo-Fatoyinbo rape case is, no doubt, the most protracted controversy that
hit the country’s showbiz scene in 2019.
Trouble started when Busola
Dakolo, Timi Dakolo’s wife, accused Biodun Fatoyinbo, a senior pastor with the
Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (COZA) church, of raping her on two occasions as
a teenager.
But the outrage that followed
birthed similar accounts from Nigerians — including celebrities who claimed to have had friends that
had similar encounters with the embattled clergyman — while
others dismissed it as false.
As the matter gained the attention
of the Nigerian police, the duo would later be invited for questioning on the
highly publicized case — with Busola later narrating that she was made to sign
the invitation at gunpoint.
In September, Busola asked the
federal high court to compel Fatoyinbo to publish a clearly worded apology on
the front page of at least two national newspapers and two national TVs for
seven consecutive days.
However, the case was dismissed
in November while her lawyer was fined for abusing judicial procedures. Busola,
however, vowed to appeal the judgment in a more superior court.
Bobrisky and “severed genitals”
He spent long-haul hours on
social media parading himself as Nigeria’s first transgender amid claims that
he severed his genitals. His debut movie ‘Bobrisky in Love’ was investigated on
homosexuality suspicions.
Bobrisky, an internet celebrity,
severally made the headlines in 2019, especially in August when the Lagos
police authorities deployed over 100 operatives to venues of his birthday to
prevent a potential breach of public peace.
After the celebrations were
disrupted, the self-acclaimed transgender claimed he lost over N19 million to
the raid. Videos making the rounds had shown him astride a commercial bike
while fleeing the scene.
While the National Council for
Arts and Culture (NCAC) describing him as a “national disaster,” several human
rights groups issued a statement to protest the alleged threat and harassment
on his person.
He was later involved in a fight
with an irate youth who brushed his vehicle, pounced on him and smashed his
iPhone when he attempted taking pictures of the offender’s plate number ahead
of legal actions.
Etinosa Idemudia’s nudity scandal
Etinosa Idemudia first fueled
public outrage when she went completely unclad during Mc Galaxy’s live
Instagram session after having consumed some glasses of alcohol. But fans
didn’t cut Galaxy lose in the criticisms that followed.
While Galaxy, amid the
overbearing pressure, later revealed that the act was a publicity stunt they
both consented to, Etinosa dismissed his claims and accused him of lying to
Nigerians while sending the video to blogs.
“This is the last I will say on
this issue. It hurts me a lot and you can tell by the harsh, stupid way I
cursed an innocent child because his father won’t stop throwing it at my face.
I’m working really hard to be a better person,” she had said.
Yet, she later threatened to use
the Quran as an ashtray “like she earlier did with the Bible” in a move that
was widely perceived as her being desperate for attention in the face of the
rigours that come with the Nollywood industry.
culled: TheCable
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