A Delta State High Court in Effurun has struck out the preliminary objections filed by ace musician, David Adeleke a.k.a Davido and his company, Davido Music Worldwide.
Davido and his legal team had challenged the jurisdiction of the High Court in Effurun, Delta state to entertain the breach of contract case brought against them by Amaju Pinnick and Brownhill Investment Company Limited regarding the annual ‘Warri Again Concert’.
Pinnick, a former President of the Nigeria Football Federation, had called out the singer for failing to perform at the event despite receiving $94,600 as payment.
He had said last October: “We paid Davido $94,600 on the 6th of April. We paid $18,000 for his plane. If he says he’s a big boy, we will tell him we are bigger than him.”
Pinnick, through his lawyer, Kelechi Onwuegbuchulem, is asking the court to award N2billion as general damages against Davido and his music label.
The claimant is praying the court to award against Davido the sum of N150m as legal and professional fees and an additional sum of N30m as the cost of filing the suit.
He also wants the court to order the singer to tender a public apology to Pinnick and attendees through all his social media accounts and in two national daily newspapers for four consecutive days.
The defendants argued that the lawsuit was premature and a debt recovery case since the claimant had not sent a letter of demand seeking repayment of the money they had claimed in the complaint.
However, the court dismissed their claims in its decision on Wednesday.
The court acknowledged the argument made by the claimant’s counsel that the requested reliefs should be considered together rather than separately to understand the nature of the lawsuit.
