One Africa Festival apologises to Sarkodie

The Ghanaian rapper was supposed to perform at the African pop music concert when he was upstaged by Nigerian act Davido. According to Ghanaian artist manager George Britton, “When Sark was just about hitting the stage, Davido’s guy attacked Black Nana by pushing him to the floor to allow Davido perform. Ugly scenes.”

This is the latest event dogging the One Africa Event. Months ago, the UK edition of the event was abruptly closed without several performances because it exceeded the time allotted for the concert by the venue.

Sarkodie pulled out of the Dubai concert after the alleged attack from Davido. He took to social media to express his unhappiness at the event. “Nobody plays with my brand and that be why we no step on that stage...I just feel for the fans,” he posted on Facebook a day later.

Now, Paul Okoye of Upfront & Personal, the company responsible for the One Africa Music Festival, has issued an apology via social media.

“As we continue to build our brand, we hold ourselves accountable to the highest esteem of professionalism and integrity to both our fans and artists and will continue to reach across all cultures, boundaries and understandings that collectively form One Africa,” he wrote on Instagram.

In a note that appears to address the alleged violent conduct of the Davido entourage, he added, “At the same time we call on all performing artists and fans alike to embrace that they appear as ambassadors of our culture and genre of music, and as such they must equally be held accountable for their behavior when attending one of our events, especially with regards to artists who are judged not only in their individual capacity but also on the actions and inactions of their entourage. The irony being no matter how well behaved an artist is, if a member of your entourage acts up the law, the press and the media only know you (the artist).”

On Sarkodie, Okoye writes, “[W]e would like to offer our sincerest apologies to Sarkodie, his team and all his fans that came out to see him, due to management miscommunication, that led to him not performing and we regret that we missed out on his performance. We at OAG [One Africa Group] are personally accountable on delivering on all our commitments, and as such take it to heart when commitments are not fulfilled to either the artist or the fans.”

Sarkodie appears to no longer hold any grievances. The rapper posted a link to Okoye’s apology on his Facebook page.