Up-and-coming singer, Mbamara Arinze, aka Zona Gee, caused quite a stir on social media when he recently accused Davido of stealing a song from him. Arinze claimed that he wrote Davido’s latest song, Assurance, and sent it to him via messaging app, WhatsApp.
However, in a chat with Sunday Scoop, Zona Gee admitted that he might have been defrauded. This is even as many allege that his claim was a publicity stunt. Explaining how he allegedly got Davido’s phone number, Arinze said, “I went for a concert and I saw Davido and some people around him. I knew I couldn’t approach any of them there because of their security men. Later on, I was able to meet one of the guys I saw around Davido, and I asked him for Mayorkun’s phone number. He said I had to pay for it and I gave him N5,000. When I called the number he gave me, the person who answered the phone identified himself as Mayorkun’s manager. I told him I wanted to speak with Mayorkun and he handed the phone to someone who claimed to be Mayorkun. Since I didn’t see the person, I cannot verify if it was Mayorkun I spoke with but after speaking with the person for some time, he gave me Davido’s number.
“I knew Davido may not pick my calls; so, I sent him a message on WhatsApp. Some people have been saying that the mail I claimed I was given by Davido was a fake one. However, I was excited because I believed I was talking to Davido and I didn’t bother to make checks.”
Maintaining that he actually told Davido about the song, Zona Gee said, “My friends can bear witness that I had been singing the song, Assurance, for a long time before Davido’s version was released. The difference was that I didn’t put the name, Chioma. I recorded the chorus and sent it to Davido on WhatsApp. We stopped chatting for a while after that only for me to realise that Davido had released the song. I was even happy that he took my song. I sent him a message when I heard the song but he did not reply. Subsequently, I was blocked. At that point, I felt used and I thought of a way to let the world know what happened. That’s why I posted the chat on Facebook. Right now, I am not even sure I spoke with the real Davido. I might have been defrauded.”
On the similarities between his version of the song and the one Davido released, the up-and-coming singer said, “The similarity is the chorus; the only difference is that I didn’t mention Chioma in my own. The funny thing is that I lost my phone some days ago; so, I don’t have the voice note of the song that I recorded. I am not trying to spoil anybody’s image. I know that many people think I’m lying and using the publicity to promote my career but that was never my plan. I just want to be signed to a record label. I am ready to apologise to Davido if it is proved that he wasn’t the person I communicated with.”
