American artist Esquare has offered their perspective, refuting allegations of assaulting Nigerian singer Portable.
The Nation reported that Portable had claimed in a series of Instagram Story posts that he was attacked by individuals after failing to perform at a paid show.
The ‘Zazuu’ hitmaker, hired by two black Americans for an event, claimed that around 40 people assaulted him, resulting in serious injuries, including a broken leg.
He revealed that he had initially been booked for an event in December of the previous year by two black Americans, saying that costs escalated with the arrival of the New Year.
He disclosed how he had communicated the specific expense to them, even creating a video to explain it.
However, he said they requested a refund, expressing dissatisfaction with his delivered work.
Despite rumours suggesting that Esquare assaulted Portable in his residence, Esquare clarified that the incident occurred at a paid venue.
The singer said he received N2.5 million for the production of a song and music video, but logistical challenges prevented him from participating due to his distant location.
On the scheduled day of the shoot in Ajah, Lekki, Portable failed to appear, citing the distance.
In response, they agreed to pay him an additional N1 million, traveled to his residence in Ogun for pickup, but tensions escalated when they later demanded a refund of the extra N1 million, leading to an unpleasant situation.
He said: “I am Dr Fortunate and Prince and we are Esquare. There is a viral video going on where my brother and I happened to be on those videos. I just want to address the public misconception because a lot of false information was given out.
“Sometimes last year May, our manager in the United States contacted Portable’s manager and they reached an agreement on the collaboration. We agreed on N2.5 million. When we paid the N1.5 million, the beat was sent to Portable’s manager and he did his version and brought it back to us and we made some changes and everything came out perfect.
“We agreed that the music video would be done on September 23rd. My brought and I made the necessary arrangements on how to fly down to Nigeria to do the music video, and we saw on his manager’s Instagram handle that he would be on a tour during that time.
“We decided to postpone it to the festive period in December, which Portable’s manager agreed to. Then we had a change of mind and wanted to do the video shoot in Houston, Texas where we are based, since he was on your in the US but Portable’s manager declined.
“A date was later fixed for September 21st. He failed to show up on time to the music video shoot and when we called our manager to inform his manager of the appointment, our manager realized that Portable’s manager had sent a message canceling the shoot as it was too far from Portable’s location which is Sango, Ogun State.
“Through a friend, we were able to reach Portable directly. At first, he denied us and asked for proof, which we sent to him and he demanded an extra N1 million, claiming that his manager had collected N500,000 from the N1 million they sent to him.
“We gave him the money and even had to drive from Ajah, Lekki to Ogun State to pick him up and when we got to the location, he started exhibiting erratic behaviour and demanded we make it snappy since he has out her engagements. When we tried talking things with him after the shoot about the extra money we paid him, he flared up and said he was a member of a cult group and would call Area boys to cancel the event and kill us.”
