Smooth Productions, the producers of the popular Nigerian music awards known as The Headies, have condemned controversial artiste Portable for endangering the lives of fellow nominees.
According to the nomination list released by the Headies on Tuesday, the fast-rising artiste is up for Best Street-Hop Artiste and Rookie of the Year.
The singer, born Habeeb Okikiola, took to Instagram on Wednesday to issue death threats to other artists nominated in the categories in which he was nominated.
“Those are my awards, anybody else who wins I will ask for them to be killed. I will ask them to kill the person. If the organisers give my award to someone else, they will die,” he said in Yoruba. “No go give my award to another person, he go die o”
In a statement published via Headies’ official Instagram account on Friday, it was revealed that Smooth Productions made a report to the police as regards the concerning video. The singer was also warned to retract his statement and make a written apology to his colleagues.
The statement read in part, “The Headies condemns such act and is vehemently opposed to the utterance of any threats or actions that contravene our laws. We have notified the Nigerian Police Force of Okikiola’s actions to fellow nominees of the awards.
“Also, demand that the immediate retraction of the video from Mr. Okikiola’s social media platforms, as well as a written apology to the nominees of both categories and to the Headies, must be made.
“Should Mr. Okikiola fail to meet our demands, we would not only disqualify him from participating in the Headies but also enforce the instrumentalities of the law to the fullest.”
The organisers also implored the general public to disregard the video and stop sharing the same on social media platforms.
