Nigerian popstar Runtown in legal trouble

The ‘Mad Over You’ star has been ordered to a court in Abuja, Nigeria, after apparently failing to comply with an earlier legal instruction. 

“Recall that we served a contempt warning from a court on Runtown on 4 July 2018 after he defied the court order and released a song,” reads a notice from Runtown’s former label, Eric Many Records, as published in the Punch newspaper. 

“Rather than heed the contempt warning and retrace his steps, he issued a press release in which he argued that the injunction had expired.

“The injunction was to stop things until the hearing of our motion seeking to freeze activities until a decision on his status (whether he had discharged his obligations to us or not) is taken. It barred him from performing or releasing songs for the time being.”

The notice has come after accusations from both sides, with the record label claiming debts are owed by Runtown and the artist insisting on the rightness of his actions.

Eric Many’s notice continues: “The legal advice we received was that Runtown was wrong in his interpretation of the Rules of Court he relied on since he was already served with our Motion and was represented in court on 31 May 2018 when the court adjourned to 27 September 2018 to hear the motion and the one filed by Runtown himself!

“To turn around after that day to proceed to do what the order barred him from doing, and what the Motion served on him (adjourned in his presence) seeks to stop, is unjustifiable under the 7-Days rule he relied upon. That could probably apply to a person against whom an interim injunction was obtained without more.

“Based on this, we have done two things: One, we have obtained a ‘FORM 49’ against him to explain why he should not be sent to prison, especially when he continued to publicise fixtures for shows in Canada, Namibia, Europe etc. and threaten to release more songs, both actions in defiance of the court order. The application (now fixed for 8 August) has been served on him in the Punch as ordered by the court.

“Two, since we will not allow him to continue to mock the court order we have applied and obtained a new Injunction to stop his actions to protect the contempt case. The new injunction bars him from his threatened defiant actions in Canada, Namibia, Europe etc.

“We believe the new injunction has not also ‘expired’ and hope he respects the court this time. Please bear in mind that our main case in court boils down to whether Runtown has discharged his monetary obligations to us and delivered one album to us as spelt out in our contract.”

The full-page notice was published with evidence of publicity for Runtown’s appearance in Namibia. The artist is yet to respond.