“While it is no longer news, that Star Boy, Ayo ‘Wizkid’ Balogun, will not be headlining this year’s edition of the annual Nigerian Breweries PLC sponsored musical concert roadshow, Star Trek, the main reason why the artiste was dropped has been revealed. Inside sources privy to how the recruitment and negotiation of fee for artistes for the concert are conducted said that the inability of the organisers and WizKid’s managers to agree on performance fee led to the musician’s absence from the oldest musical concert in the country. The source said that WizKid was offered N3 million per show and allotted four shows which would have seen him pocket a grand sum of N12 million but his managers allegedly turned it down on the grounds that it was too small for the highflying artiste. The original aim of turning the offer down according to our source, “was to force the organisers to increase the amount to N5 million per show. However, the marketing strategy backfired as Nigerian Breweries’ management called the bluff of the musician and his managers and replaced him with two other musicians for less the amount offered WizKid.” It was further revealed that when it dawned on WizKid that the organisers were not ready to add a dime to the N3 million offered him per show, he ran back to the Iganmu, the headquarters of the Lagos-based alcoholic drink brewers, this time, through long time mentor, Banky W. On getting there, Wizzy was told that he had been replaced by two other artistes and should try his luck next year”.
