My heart is rare and the world knows. Please God, keep my heart the same. Don’t give me a change of heart Lord. I shall remain a giving being.
This was the submission of David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, who does not seem to be finding life funny at the moment, following the mysterious death of his friend, Tagbo Umeike.
The last one week, R gathered, has been difficult for the Fall on Me crooner as he was forced to cancel his N30 billion tour of Africa and other engagements within and outside the shores of the country in order to help police with their investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Tagbo, who was alleged to have died of too much consumption of Taquila.
Davido had just wrapped up his European tour and would have embarked on another African tour, which fans had already been looking forward to but, that may not be happening again. With his current travails, the N30 billion tour can wait for the dust to settle.
Apart from the death of Tagbo, which has put the singer in a bad shape, he’s also grieving the death of his two other friends, DJ Olu and Chime, who reportedly died in a similar mysterious circumstance. They were said to have been found dead in their car in Banana Island shortly days after the passing of Tagbo.
The feeling within the camp of the singer, R gathered, has been pensive, as everyone has been told to stay calm and be careful of what to put out at the moment.
They appeared to be baffled by the sudden demise of three of Davido’s death in one week, as none of them could provide explanation about how the incident went down.
A closed friend of Davido, who reached out to R said: “We are grieving at the moment. Nobody is ready to say anything. A statement would be released soon,” he said.
Davido may have weathered through many scandals since he broke into limelight with the Omo Baba Olowo moniker some years back, the current unfolding scenario and the danger it spells for his life, music career and family put him in a situation many of his friends and fans feared could consume the young man.
With his multi-million dollar endorsement deals with brands within and outside the country already being threatened, it was gathered that Davido may lose more to the current scandal than he would gain.
Davido may have made Nigeria proud by putting its music industry on the world map with sold out concerts in major cities across Europe, coupled with foreign collaborations and massive hit songs that have dominated the music charts for months, his current travails, some people feared may belly his success if care is not taken.
His fans are already divided on this matter, with a section praying for the IF singer and standing with their star man, others simply said his current travail would humble him and teach him to pay more attention to his ‘extravagant’ life style.
Efforts were made to speak with some of Davido’s friends in the music business, but most of them declined comment, as they were being careful of their statement. One of them, who spoke with R asked for his name not to be mentioned, insisted that “Davido is a strong man with a big influence. We don’t know what truly happened as only Tagbo and those who were there could tell us what happened, that night. But, I believe we are yet to get to the root of this matter. Let’s just hope that this is not the last straw for Davido.”
Trouble had started for the father of two when one Caroline Danjuma, a lover of the late Tagbo, raised the alarm over the death of Tagbo, who, she claimed to have died in the company of his friends, including Davido. From that point, Davido has made frantic efforts to clear his name of the allegation levelled against him, as he was reportedly invited by the police in Lagos State for questioning.
The police had picked a hole in Davido’s claim that he had no idea how the deceased got to the General Hospital, Lagos Island, where he was reportedly driven to on the instruction of Davido as the CCTV footage at the hospital captured the entire incident.
Information gathered by R on Friday suggested that Davido and his legal team, headed by Norrison Quakers (SAN), have been making efforts to state their side of the story and to guide against further damage to the image of their client.
According to a statement released on Friday on behalf of Davido, which read in part “It is imperative to state that the evidence and footage available to the Police discloses the chain of events leading to the discovery of the remains of Mr Tagbo Umeike do not in any way incriminate our client, but rather absolves him of any criminal culpability; a fact that the police are aware of.
“Our clients maintains that he has not in any way lied about what he knows about the unfortunate incident, neither has his statement to the police been incoherent, as unfortunately, been presented in the media. Our client is currently grieving the loss of two of his friends, and deeply condoles with the families, and as his solicitors, it is our duty to set the records straight by bringing and putting into the public space the truth of what actually transpired.”
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