Majek no longer under my care – Ayiri Emami

Warri-based billionaire and socialite, Chief Ayiri
Emami, has washed his hands off the affairs of
popular reggae musician, Majek Fashek, about seven
months after the latter emerged from a rehabilitation
centre in Abuja.
The businessman, who took responsibility for the
payment of the musician’s bills at the rehab home,
said in a telephone interview with our correspondent
that Majek ceased to be under his care since the day
the (musician) returned to Lagos against his wish.
Explaining the circumstances in which Majek left,
Emami said, “Majek Fashek is not under my care.
When he left the rehabilitation home in Abuja, the
doctors said that he needed to relax. They said he
should stay off the music scene for some time. I
wanted him to stay in Warri and relax. I provided
everything that he needed to be comfortable. But he
insisted on going back to music almost immediately.
He kept insisting and, after a while, I had to let him go.
That was it.”
Back in Lagos, fans of the reggae star were overjoyed
when they learnt that he had been checked into a
rehab home. The general assumption at the time was
that Emami planned to sign him on to his music label.
But they were wrong. The billionaire said that although
Majek expressed the desire to be signed on, he had
opposed it.
Emami said, “He wanted to join my music label, but I
said no. I didn’t want other people to think that I did
him a favour because I wanted him to sign on to the
label. Instead, I told him that I could get him a good
manager that would take care of him and his career,
get him a car and every other thing.
“I travelled and by the time I returned one evening,
Majek was already in Lagos.”

Although Majek had performed in some musical
shows in Lagos, Emami said he was only aware of his
performance during the 2015 Felabration event at the
Afrika Shrine. “He went there with my band. I didn’t
even want him to go to Lagos until he had rested
properly, as the doctors advised,” he said.
When contacted, Majek initially denied that his
relationship with Chief Emami was strained. “We are
working together,” he had said. Then, realising that
the billionaire had already spoken with our
correspondent about it, he added, “We are still doing
business together, but it is not like it used to be.”
Confronted with the allegation that he left Emami
because the latter did not honour his request for
money, Majek said, “It is not like that. I am an
American-trained musician. When I was in America, I
studied music and music business. So I am not in the
same level as the average Nigerian musician. I am an
international musician. Emami wanted to place me on
the same level as Nigerian musicians and to control
my music business. So I decided to move.”