Headies disqualifies Portable over ‘criminal activities’

The organisers of The Headies have disqualified Habeem Okikiola, the controversial singer better known as Portable, from this year’s edition of its awards.

On May 24, Portable was nominated for the ‘Best Street Artist’ and ‘Rookie of the Year’ categories.

In the ‘Rookie of the Year’ category, he was expected to compete with Av, Fave, Magixx, and Ugoccie.

For the second category, he was pitted against Bella Shmurda, Mohbad, Naira Marley, and Goya Menor among others.

Shortly after the nominations were unveiled, Portable claimed his co-nominees at The Headies are no match for him.

He also threatened to kill anyone who wins any of the categories in his place.

In its reaction, organisers of the awards threatened to disqualify him if he failed to retract his statement and issue an apology on his social media pages.

Portable had initially taunted the award organisers, saying they “nominated a mad man musician”.

The singer thereafter apologised for his “unguarded utterance” which he said was harmless.

But in a statement released on Tuesday evening, the award organisers said Portable was disqualified because he is “a subject of an investigation relating to criminal activities.”

The organisers also cited a claim he made that he’s the founder of ‘One million Boys’, a suspected cult group in Lagos, as another ground for his disqualification

“We regret to announce that following numerous indicting statements made by Mr. Habeeb Okikiola popularly knowns as “Portable”, and the incessant negative attention that Mr Okikiola has garnered from the Nigeria Police and the general public in recent times, the organisers of the Headies have resolved to disqualify Mr Okikiola as a nominee at the forthcoming 15th Headies Awards,” the statement reads.

“The decision to disqualify him is accentuated by a series of misdemeanors by Mr Okikiola via his social media platforms. On the 25th of May 2022, he threatened to kill, harm, or cause harm to the other nominees in the same categories of awards hewas nominated for, if he does not emerge the winner, precisely.

“Smooth Promotions Limited, the organisers of the Headies Awards is law-abiding and responsible organization that abhors any form of violence, unlawful or activities ravaging our society.

“We shall not condone reckless and uncouth statements from artists and hereby disassociate ourselves from any individual linked to such assembly or activities including Mr. Okikiola’s prospects as long as these acts are sufficiently linked to him as described.

“The music industry demands all-round excellence. It is extremely important for young artists to be potential role models to exude professional responsibility, proper decorum and respect for others.

“Being subject of an investigation relating to criminal activities, Mr. Habeeb Okikiola is hereby disqualified from both categories of awards Annual Headies Awards scheduled to hold later this year namely: Best Street Artist and Rookie of the Year.”

Since he came into the limelight, Portable has been in the news for controversial reasons.

The Ogun state police command had recently invited him for allegedly asking his team to brutalise a young man.