May 27, (THEWILL) – Organisers of Africa’s biggest music award, The Headies, says it might disqualify Habeeb Okikiola, aka Portable, over his death threat to co-nominees of its 2022 edition.
The award’s organisers broke the news in a statement, broadcast via HipTV, its satellite TV channel, on Friday.
The Headies unveiled the nominees for its 2022 edition on Tuesday.
Portable, the singer, was nominated to vie in the ‘Rookie of the Year’ and ‘Best Street-Hop Artiste’ categories.
In the ‘Rookie of the Year’ category, he is expected to compete with Av, Fave, Magixx, and Ugoccie.
For the second category, he is pitted against Bella Shmurda, Mohbad, Naira Marley, and Goya Menor, among others.
But in a video on Wednesday, Portable claimed other nominees are no match for him. He further threatened to kill anyone who wins any of the categories in his place.
In its public announcement, The Headies said it might be forced to disqualify the singer if he fails to retract his statement and issue an apology on his social media pages.
“We have notified the Nigerian police of Mr Okokiola’s actions to fellow nominees”, the organisers stated.
“Also, demand for the immediate retraction of the video as well as a written apology to nominees in both categories and to The Headies has been made.
“Should Mr Okikiola fail to meet our demands, we will not only disqualify him from participating in The Headies, but also enforce the instrumentality of the law.
“The general public are hereby implored to disregard the video and stop the dissemination of same in the public space.”
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