From D'Banj and Don Jazzy's publicist...
We find it really mischievous and wicked for somebody to sit in the comfort of his home and send out messages capable of damaging the lives of his fellow human being.”
This statement above formed part of the statement by multi award hip hop artistes and producer, Dapo Oyebanjo popularly called D’banj and Don Jazzy, C.E.O of Mo’Hits Records’ media company, Media Image Managers.
Late Sunday night through Monday, Internet and Blackberry broadcast messages were flying around which said the duo were ‘arrested’ in the US with 1,000 kilograms of substance suspected to be hard drugs and they have been detained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI.
The stars’ publicist in the statement described the news as the handiwork of people who want to bring down any successful person. “It is this Shoot Him Down Syndrome (SHDS) that has pervaded the country for years now, and artistes as well as celebrities bear the brunt more. We want to state categorically that Dbanj and Don Jazzy are in Lagos. They are nowhere near New York or even Ghana.”
The statement continued: “The two respected artistes are proud Nigerians doing the country proud worldwide. They do not need to peddle drugs as they are successful young men who worked hard to get to where they are today. The report making the rounds that they were arrested in America on Sunday is false and an attempt to tarnish the image of these proudly Nigerian artistes. It’s a figment of someone's evil imagination. We at Media Image Managers are not losing sleep about this malicious campaign, but records must be set straight. D'banj and Don Jazzy are at their Lekki home in Lagos, Nigeria, they are well and okay. They have had no brush with the law for any reason, not even for a traffic offence. What makes it more funny is the fact that D’banj and Don Jazzy were having a routine meeting with many others including his media company representatives on Monday when obnoxious message dropped in many phones in the living room claiming the duo were in custody in America. Really sad.”
Since the popularity of Internet,people have literally gone gaga. Every average Nigerian is now a journalist as they struggle to outdo each other in broadcasting the news of the death of popular people as well as posting on their status on social networking site, Facebook. These news turn to be false most of the time. Nigerians have killed former Biafra war lord Chief Udumegwu Ojukwu and Freedom fighter, former South African President, Nelson Mandela several times before they will eventually die.
It was a broadcast message that sparked off a widespread panic early this year. Some mischievous people started spreading the news that the Third Mainland Bridge was falling apart and people should avoid that route. Government of Lagos had to debunk that claim. So many incidents that have led to panic had been caused by this new generation Blackberry and Facebook ‘journalists’. Rumour peddlers have told the world that Charly Boy was ‘dead’ some couple of years ago. They ‘killed’ gospel musician and Evangelist Sonny Okosuns once before he eventually died. The most guilty of this crime are faceless individuals who run web sites. They have turned the Internet to blackmail tool used in running anybody who tries to stand up to them down.
“That is why we at Media Image Managers will want to use this opportunity to call on government to call Nigerians to order by way of enlightenment on the need to verify information before they spread it further. D’banj and Don Jazzy, two successful artistes are target today (so many people had been targets in the past), who knows the next target? These young men even when they were yet to break into limelight did not do any illegal thing, so it would be most sad now that almost a decade of hard work that has paid off would be rubbished by engaging in anything illegal.”
D’banj and Don Jazzy aside winning many awards were recently signed American superstar Kanye West’s G.O.O.D Music
