By Dimeji Ogedengbe
As the ‘pro’ and ‘anti’ ‘Goodluck Jonathan for President’ arguments are still heating up amongst young Nigerians, more and more celebrities regardless of what their fans think or say, are still submitting their hearts on Jonathan’s desk. But a few others are doing everything possible to avoid getting listed on Mr. President’s payroll.
Empire Mates Entertainment (EME) boss, Bankole Wellington otherwise known as Banky W yesterday announced that he would not be present at the Goodluck Jonathan concert scheduled to hold on Friday, March 25, 2011 in Abuja.
Banky took to his Twitter account on Wednesday, March 23, 2011 to inform his followers that he would be committing himself to the ‘What About Us‘ cause; a movement formed by respected youths to engage on public platforms, men and women aspiring to occupy government offices come April 2011 on their plans for the Nigerian youth.
‘4 the record I WILL NOT be performing @ the GEJ Concert in Abj on the 25th. I’ll be at d what about us debate‘, Banky W tweeted from his personal handle (@bankyw).
Similarly, producer-entertainer Lanre Dabiri popularly known as eLDee clearly disassociated himself from the Goodluck Jonathan campaign family on his Facebook page the same day as Banky W did.
Eldee who has been very involved with several advocacy groups wrote, in a note published on his Facebook account, that himself and a couple of other artistes including D’banj, Tuface, M.I, P Square, Banky W, Duncan Mighty, Wizkid had earlier scheduled a similar concert tagged ‘Our Time’ to sensitize the youths on the need to vote and most importantly guard their votes.
According to the hip-hop star, the TV commercial shot for the ‘Our Time’ concert was altered and paraded as ‘Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s Presidential Campaign Concert’. This was followed up with a full-page newspaper advert in the ‘Vanguard’ newspaper of Tuesday, March 22, 2011, displaying his picture and other aforementioned artistes as headliners.
‘Now I was being touted as a representative of the youth in support of the Goodluck Ebele Jonathan presidential campaign. What’s even more interesting is that Silverbird TV ran this new advert before and after the Dbanj interview with Goodluck Jonathan, as if it were part and parcel of that GEJ campaign initiative’. eLDee wrote.
‘I have never, and even more so now will never be a part of any campaign for President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, therefore please do not expect me to be at the supposed concert’.
There are speculations MI and Wizkid are also planning to shun the controversial concert. But we cannot confirm this for now.
22 comments
Hello Nigerian Youths, wat we will be tinking of doing now is how to vote the right men or women who can take dis country to d next level, we should not allow dose old men and women to use our head. Vote d rite candidate…one Nigeria!!! 4 me its Goodluck, he is d rite man we need…to make us succeed.
Nt so bad. But is banky nt gonna miss a lot
Banky W. and Eldee’s case is like a bird that after feeding decided to challenge his god to a fight. Who are eldee and banky .W? Banky that can’t even compose his own song. These one track local stars make me laugh a lot. They kill their carriers even before they start; it is an honour to be invited as an artist to perform for the presidency and that doesn’t mean you should cast your vote for him. I wonder the kind of management team you people have.
LMAO…u call it an honour to be invited to perform for a man without honour…….they cant write their own songs right?at least Nigeria knows Banky and Eldee…WHO ARE YOU?!!!!!!!!
Mind You, they are not being fed by stolen money.
Look at the way people die on Nigerian roads like chicken day by day yet, you won’t open your eyes to see that Nigerian Government are up to no good.
If they ask you to travel abroad now, you will quickly pack your belongings.
Yankee was not made by us.It was made by some people who co-operated and took it beyond the imaginable.
Oyinbo go come naija una go they bow for them.pshw!
Mr. King is it not honorable to encourage youths to cast their votes to whoever they want to instead of touting 4 a particular candidate. Ooooh, u wuld rather mortgage the future of ur country for vain riches?? I Thank GOD u are nt Banky W or eLDee…wat rubbish honour to perform for a people who wasted 12 yrs of Nigerian’s lives…Am sure their incapability to provide basic quality education resulted in ur not being able to spell CAREER!!!
I have read from several other folks who cared to share their opinion on wat these men have done and i must say every one is happy to have a few men who wont bow to baal. 1st king u are the king of tramps who probably schooled wit the 1st lady get a spelling tutor, for so long yo kinds have sold us to these old haggs but guess wat its going down, who the hell is the presidency who have no balls to attend a debate.
@king learn to spell “careers” before you come online and diss two of our very talented artists
Are they saying they are non partisan? i recall that Banky W played for Fashola in Lagos
kudos to you guys banky and eldee, i believe the shows our celebrity should organise is to educate youths on how to cast their votes wisely and not campaigning concert for a particular candidate, they could do jingles(no problem about that) not even at a time when the industry is loosing up coming entertainers to poor infrastructure…a word is enough for the wise, if you like sell you votes (NA YOU SABI)
Thank you jare eyan gidi!
kudos to you guys banky and eldee,your refusal to att i believe the shows our celebrity should organise is to educate youths on how to cast their votes wisely and not organising a joint campaign for a particular candidate, they could do jingles(no problem about that) not even at a time when the industry is loosing up coming entertainers to poor infrastructure…a word is enough for the wise, if you like sell you votes (NA YOU SABI)
Thanks to banky and eldee, this shows that you guys are not cheap
To Mr. King, needless to say you are a shame to whatever generation you belong(hopefully not mine), how dare you castigate these young men for the honourable steps they have taken when their peers have chosen to mortgage their own future and that of their unborn generation? And if you have been a little less dumb, cos you don’t sound to me like somebody who would read anything that has no naira sign on it, and you have followed Eldee or Bankee “W”s commentaries then you would have been aware that the stance they have taken is just consistent with their commentaries on governance and politics.
Who is bankyw and eldee???.. dey only av fame in lagos xpecially eldee.. Wen GEj av artist like psquare,mohit allstar aand duncan mighty or timaya… Who nids eldee nd bankyw… Eldee nd bankyw r supportin momodu.. I feel 4 dem
Why are some people so daft and forgetful? was it not just 2 weeks ago that Banky performed for Fashola at Teslim Balogun stadium? Why saying Kudos to him for not performing for GEJ?
Banky was not paid, which was y he boycotted!
deji blacki, it’s u i am sorry for. Just wasting away…lmao. omo ni eldee, omo ni banky w. Who be u? Nothin!
I heard goodluck jonathan is spending N30b on Entertainers for his campaign, this is absosulte insane, youth are dying of accidents, weve lost CD john and chidinma on road accident, 30bn is enough to repair nigerian road
I begin 2 wonder the kind of future our youth is having 4 our country Naija,it’s obvious banky is an ACN not PDP,they might hav paid dem huge money 2 boycot this concert,@Creme u no Banky& Eldee coz they are entertainer,u may not no me coz am not into entertaiment,but i want 2 tell u that there are a whole lot of naija youth that are very talented in other area of life you do not no.Banky and eldee will soon fade away,but our professional youth will last 4 ever.go to court and see young lawyers winning big cases,go 2 oil field and see young engineers.as 4 as am concern banky and eldee is not speaking 4 the youth but 4 their own cause,thank u …Goodluck is God sent 2 naija blief or you loose.i sign out.
Whatever!!!
wat shit are u saying,i dnt knw u bt ur statement is dissappointin.wen sm are serving as puppets to jonathan,odaz are coming out to shun him,is dat nt a great step,tink b4 u speak,no offense.aint a banky fan,bt chek urself if u aint gat any problems 4 saying banky cant sing,ur opinion is faulty n ‘irritating’.
they will kill his carrier. guy how far learning how to spell. illiterate. it’s career. support the rite ppl, so 9ja can ve a better education system. in Ribadu we trust