Singer Spyro has accused popular music executive Ubi Franklin of scamming him $5,000.
In an interview on the Echoroom podcast, the musician said he was deceived by Franklin into performing at a birthday party in Ghana under the guise of a request from Davido.
He claimed that Franklin refused to pay him after the event, despite agreeing to pay him $5,000 for the performance.
Expressing his disappointment and frustration over the incident, Spyro stated, “It was painful to be taken advantage of” despite Pastor Bolaji’s intervention in the matter.
“Ubi Franklin is one of those few people that I respected until recently. He called in the morning and said he was in Ghana for Iyanya’s birthday. I told him I would come.
“He told me when we got to the airport that there would be some performances at the party, but I told him no. Thankfully, I had Swavey with me. I told him I don’t do anything outside my manager. He also tried to persuade me.
“I met with Davido when we got there. It was at the time I wanted to release ‘Stand By You’. So, we left Davido’s place and went to our apartment. I was producing a song with Iyanya, and Ubi came and said Davido asked me to perform at the party and that he would give us $5k. I told him that the least I charge is N20 million. Secondly, I can’t leave my management. Since Davido said we were going to see each other later to do a promo for ‘Stand By You’, I told Ubi to let me get in touch with my management.
“Upon getting there, Davido was returning from the stage, and Ubi informed me that I was going on stage. At that point, I couldn’t decline because there were dignitaries there.
“After the performance, I asked Ubi for my money. He didn’t talk to me until we got to Lagos. Ubi just kept ignoring me. It was becoming a mess. He was taking me for a fool and told me not to call Davido because he didn’t ask him to have me perform. He also brought Pastor Bolaji into the matter.
“There has been no call or chat from Ubi. It’s painful because he goes around scamming people of their money. I’m saying this to protect other artists who may fall victim to this.”
