Naira Marley showed up but couldn’t perform at his much anticipated music concert in Cameroon on February 14. The reasons behind the cancellation and final postponement of his concert rest in the hands of the government.
Until February 11, the Naira Marley Show was going as planned but everything changed on the 12 when Prince Enobi, founder of Cliq Empire announced the show had been moved from Buea (original venue) to Limbe.
According to a press statement by Cliq Empire and Network Lounge, organizers of the concert, the change of venue was as a result of popular demand from Marlians (fans of Marley) who kept demanding for tickets. The statement explained that due to space constraints organizers were forced to move the show to the Amusement Park in Limbe.
On the day of the concert, February 14, another shocking announcement dropped online saying the show had once again been moved from Limbe to the Douala, the economic capital of Cameroon. But by evening , the show was postponed!
A press statement from the organizers later explained that the decision to postpone the show at the last minute was because “local authorities refused this event can’t hold”. They also revealed that “80% tickets have been sold out but for reasons beyond our control, we can’t have the concert.”
Naira Marley who arrived Cameroon in the afternoon was expected to go live of Facebook at 8PM local time to speak with is fans but later made a short video apologizing to fans who were eager to come out and watch him perform. He however assured them to wait for a bigger and better show sometime soon.
However, there are some conspiracy theories flying around explaining the real reasons why the show was cancelled and later postponed.
A report claims the organizers didn’t obtain an authorization from the government to host the concert in Buea. But given the fact that, Prince Enobi has hosted several music concerts in Buea without any issues from the government leaves this theory wanting.
Another story says the concert was to hold just when a new law was passed demanding all event planners to pay a fee (1 – 2 million xfca) to the Ministry of Arts and Culture before they are allowed to host any concert in Cameroon.
One report claims Cameroonian comedian CY International could be behind the cancellation of the concert after calling on the ban of Nigerian music in Cameroon in a Facebook live video back in December. He said him and his people will sabotage any concert hosting foreign artists in Cameroon. But when he or they couldn’t do anything to stop Fally Ipupa’s concert in Douala and Yaounde, his threats have since been called to question.
Our source tells us that a couple of secret emails were sent to the Ministry of Arts and Culture requesting that the minister to put an end to the Naira Marley Concert. In one of the mails, the writer portrayed Marley as a drug abuser and sex offender who could influence his young Cameroonian fans to get into drugs and violence.
“Politicians and Chiefs I hope will not allow this concert to take place in Buea. This is the founder of the drug group called The Marlians which is destroying many youths and he says he will give the Cameroonian youth what he consumes. Please daddy you guys should not allow this happen in Buea. This guy is coming from Nigeria to destroy our youths,”
– except from the email read.
Another theory claims some Cameroonian artists could also be behind the cancellation of the concert. After Enobi challenged local artists on Freaky Table TV show in January – asking any to pull the same crowd Marley can pull in Cameroon – some of them openly called him out for disrespecting local artists. Tzy Panchak went live saying Enobi doesn’t pay local artists for shows but would give millions to foreign stars. He claimed “Naira Marley is not on my level”. Rapper, Ko-C also accused Enobi of snubbing local stars.
Prince Enobi said what he said on the show as a business man who has lost millions of francs for trying to “support his own”. Marley was only him trying something else and some fans thought he said nothing that was untrue.
We await the new date for the Naira Marley concert.
