Nigerian rapper, Ruggedman, claims he has received several death threats ever since the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) announced that Naira Marley and Zlatan Ibile will be arraigned before court.
Others who were arrested with the two artistes include, Tiamiu Abdulrahman Kayode, aka Rahman Jago, Adewunmi Adeyanju Moses and Abubakar Musa.
EFCC Head of Media, Tony Orilade, revealed in an interview that all the suspects are still in detention and are awaiting trial.
“They are still with us and expectedly will be arraigned in court this week. No date has been fixed yet but as soon as I confirm, I’ll let you know”, the spokesman said.
Ruggedman, in a post said that he has nothing against Naira Marley and hopes he will be discerning and utilize his position of influence appropriately. He added that his only crime was to caution the young rapper on his public utterances on a subject as sensitive as internet fraud.
In his post he wrote;
“I have read and heard all sorts of comments pertaining to the Naira Marley case and seen the misinformation making the rounds which is quite unfortunate to say the least.
I do not know Naira Marley personally, the same way I do not know the over 300 Nigerians I have gotten justice for against police brutality. I do it because it is who I am.
All I did was caution a young artist, who has influence, against making utterances about an issue that by global standard is considered a crime. I believe correcting this was the way to go as an elder, but got insulted for this even by those being misled.
I never responded to Naira Marley’s invective nor those of his fans, same way I have not responded to any of the negative comments from social media.
I note that saying I was “happy in a way” about his arrest has evidently frayed some nerves and for that, I apologise. It was in hope that it would serve as deterrent for persons who might consider the said ills or need to make a u-turn.
It by no means was intended to wish for his downfall. It perhaps was not a good choice of word in hindsight. I do not look forward to anyone’s downfall but rather hope we all learn from the situation.
I hereby state categorically that I had nothing to do with his arrest. We all must recall that he glorified fraud on a public platform where security agencies like the Police, NDLEA and EFCC are also on.
I am sure they saw his posts and captions the same way we all did. I, however, was the one that cautioned him. I guess this was what led all the darts and arrows my way as a literal mortal retribution to my person.”
