Local promoter Suudiman has finally revealed the “real reason” why Wizkid refused to perform in Uganda late last year.
Suudiman, who had earlier threatened to expose the mess with the concert after his name was maliciously associated with it, has claimed that the Wizkid concert never happened because the organizers used novices in the business to deal with the singer’s management. He posted:
“The real people to blame for Wiz Kid’s no show are Face TV, who turned around to sue the singer. How pretentious!
Wiz Kid’s management was told that he was to perform in a night club. (When he previously came to Uganda during the Guinness Made of Black campaign, he performed in one of the small halls at Golf Course Hotel). With that lie, they negotiated a huge discount of 40%.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the booking for Wiz Kid, who was the most popular in Africa at the time, was made in Rwanda (where he performed) by people who are amateur in the business. They comprised a singer, who isn’t familiar with Wiz Kid’s management and two naïve officials from Face TV.
I knew, a month before the concert that Wiz Kid wouldn’t come for the Uganda concert. Owing to the pre-event hype, a close corporate friend invited me to Cooper Chimney restaurant at the Lugogo Cricket Oval.
He wanted to come on board as a sponsor and asked me, as someone who has previously organized international shows to investigate and find out whether payment had been made for the artiste to come to Uganda. The show had been advertised well and he was keen to come on board. However, since he had lost money before in similar deals, he never wanted to take chances.
When I called my sources in Nigeria and the US, I landed on the truth. The organizers, Face TV were telling lies. When I called them, they rubbished me and my concerns. I asked them about WizKid’s play list for the concert and whether they had been in contact with the band director, and they were ignorant and showed me attitude.
Unknown to them, I was in touch with someone in Wiz Kid’s camp two weeks to the stipulated date of the concert, but they confessed they were not even rehearsing for the concert. Then it dawned that Ugandans are being taken for a ride.
If Star Times had worked with reputable people, all we would have now would be good memories of the concert. However, their brand suffered at the hands of novices in the business. KT or Balaam Barugahara would have pulled off a better job.”
Meanwhile, the Wizkid concert which was slated for December last year was cancelled on the last minute after the Nigerian star reportedly missed his flight. The “Lagos to Kampala” singer later apologised to his fans in Uganda and promised he would make it up to them.
Staff Writer