The rapper Ruggedman has refuted rumours that he was under arrest at the state criminal investigation department (SCID) in Panti, Yaba.
Human rights advocate Harrison Gwamnishu claimed on Thursday that Ruggedman was being mistreated and detained by police due to a conflict with the Performing Musicians Employers Association of Nigeria (PMAN).
Ruggedman, whose actual name is Michael Stephens, called the accusation “fake” and a “smear campaign” in an Instagram post on Saturday.
He said that a petition had been filed against him and other union members by Pretty Okafor, the national president of PMAN.
According to the rapper, the petition focused on unaccounted cash that were purportedly missing from the PMAN office rather than theft.
“The information that I was arrested for stealing money is false. It is fake. It was just a smear campaign by disgruntled human beings,” he said.
“If you know me, you know what I’ve been doing is fighting for people, it’s speaking up for the voiceless, and that has never changed.
“There was a petition written against me, Sunny Neji, Zaaki Azzay, and a couple of other people.
“It wasn’t about us stealing money but about money missing in an office, which has not been proved. There’s no evidence proving that they saw me or Sunny Neji with money.
“This petition was written by Pretty Okafor, the former president of PMAN. He was suspended on the grounds of some illegal actions he took against PMAN, which, according to the constitution, allows the NWC to suspend him because of those bad actions.
“The same people who suspended him were the same people he wrote a petition against, and that money is missing in the same PMAN office.
“Not that we stole money. He still has to prove that he saw us holding money.”
