Headies disqualifies Portable over threat to co-nomimees, incessant controversies
The organisers of The Headies have disqualified Habeem Okikiola, the musician popularly known as Portable, from the 2022 edition of the awards over the numerous controversies involving him.
In May, the fast-rising singer was nominated for the ‘Rookie of the Year’ and ‘Best Street-Hop Artiste’ categories of the annual award.
In a statement on Tuesday, the organisers of the awards cited the “incessant negative attention” that the musician has garnered in recent times as one of the reasons for his disqualification.
The Headies also cited the singer’s earlier threat to his co-nomimees.
Portable earlier claimed his co-nominees at The Headies are no match for him and also threatened to kill anyone who wins any of the categories in his place.
“We regret to announce that following numerous indicting statements made by Mr. Habeeb Okikiola popularly known as “Portable”, and the incessant negative attention that Mr Okikiola has garnered from the Nigeria Police and the general public in recent times, the organisers of the Headies have resolved to disqualify Mr Okikiola as a nominee at the forthcoming 15 Headies Awards,” the statement reads.
“The decision to disqualify Mr. Okikiola is accentuated by series of misdemeanours by Mr Okikiola via his social media platforms. On the 25th of May 2022, he threatened to kill, harm or cause harm to the other nominees in the same categories of awards he was nominated for, if he does not emerge the winner, precisely;
‘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 organizers give my award to someone else, they will die’ – Mr. Habeeb Okikiola.
“On the 18th of July 2022, Mr Okikiola published a video on his social media platforms where he stated that he is the founder of the notorious cult group, ‘One Million Boys’. The said group gained notoriety for maiming and robbing innocent Nigerians over the years.
“In his words, he said; ‘Have you heard of Ajah boys, One Million Boys? I established them.’
“Furthermore, on the 17″ of June 2022, Mr. Habeeb Okikiola made a recording of himself where he ordered his group of friends to assault and inflict bodily harm on his accused friend, DJ Chicken. In his words, he said; ‘Ena eleyi paa jo!’ (beat him mercilessly!)”
Portable had earlier apologised in a recent Instagram post. The ‘Zazoo Zeh’ crooner had said “unguarded utterance” was harmless, adding that he meant no harm to his co-nominees.
“On behalf of myself my management and the entire Zeh nation I sincerely apologise for my unguarded utterances as I do not mean any harm to the nominees in any way,” he had said.
“The video has been deleted on my page and I appreciate all your support so far God bless my fans. God bless the Headies.
“It is our passionate appeal to the organisers of the Headies not to disqualify our artiste from participating in the two award categories where he was nominated. As a further assurance, our management undertakes to cooperate with the Nigerian Police Force to make certain all our good faith promises.
“Once again, we sincerely apologise to everyone, including all Portable fans who felt otherwise disappointed by our artist’s slips. We make no pretence and assume no justification for his actions, he is sull learning the age-lung ropes of the industry and it is only fair not to throw away the baby with the both water.”
The development comes a few days after ordered the singer’s probe over claim that he founded the notorious cult groups “Ajah Boys” and “One Million Boys”.
