THINK CAREFULLY, YOU HAVEN'T CAUGHT CYNTHIA MORGAN IN A LIE

Usually when a label owner laments a breach to a contract entered into with an artiste, you hear things like "After all we did for him/her..We gave a brand new car,an apartment in Lekki and millions to upgrade".The contract Jude Okoye of Northside Inc had with his artiste doesn't stipulate any of these.Anyone who isn't hopping on the 'So Cynthia Morgan Lied' social media trend becaue everyone else is would immediately sense a need to scrutinize the available facts before reaching a new conclusion.It is common practice among label owners to provide these things later either in a bid to make the artiste a slave to gratitude or perpetually indebted by a huge sum of money they unilaterally determine and deduct after a percentage that is rightfully theirs.

It is disgusting to see even seasoned industry stakeholders rush to the conclusion that 'Cynthia Morgan Lied' just because her contract papers were made public.How do they prove that she was paid everything due to her or that the label fulfilled every obligation on its end?.Jude Okoye, a man whose blood brother says he had to break free from, claims Cynthia Morgan collected money from him to build a house for her mother among other things and that he seized her Vevo channel in a bid to recoup N40M she was owing him.Bear in mind the common practice i earlier stated of label owners creating endless debts with expenses not stated any where in their contract with artistes.

Going by that contract,Cynthia Morgan can only owe Jude Okoye his 50% share of earnings or production,video and promotion costs.Nothing else.It is not in dispute that she was paying her rent because her court case over unpaid rent was very well publicized.How exactly did Cynthia Morgan rack up a N40M debt?.

Her contract says the label is entitled to 50% of the artiste's earnings and that the artiste would cover 50% of video,branding,promotion and all other major costs but that it would initially foot 100% as a debt to be deducted from Cynthia Morgan's gross earnings without any stipulation as to the extent it would reach footing the bills.

In saying that shooting videos was all he really did, she rightly complained that they weren't properly promoted.We were all alive from 2013-2017 and the biggest promotion Cynthia Morgan got in that period,she earned for herself in 2015 when holding a baby with one hand and smoking with the other in the photo for her single; Baby Mama led to a squabble with Nollywood actress Caroline Danjuma.From where i'm standing,Jude Okoye has done nothing to squash Cynthia's claim that she wasn't fairly treated.It is shocking that people suddenly jumped to the conclusion that she was lying because he produced contract papers.In her live session with Sandra of MsVanila7,she was asked questions based on copies of that same contract which her interviewer had.How does the mere production of that contract now mean she was lying?.Did the Cynthia Morgan ever say she didn't sign any contract?.

If you claim she lied about her social media platforms being seized by Jude,the man has openly admitted to having commandeered her Vevo channel to recoup a N40M debt.An unlawful act if i may add considering that the contract is clear on all disputes being arbitrated upon.She made it clear that she didn't want to raise dust then because she felt it was unnecessary.To put it another way, she probably was too broke to start a legal battle and may have allowed every threat stand-'Don't use that name (We saw it with Kiss Daniel not too long ago if you recall) and hand over your social media to us'.

If 'Olowo', 'Lead Me On' or 'German Juice' gets played in any movie today,Jude will hold onto her 50% of whatever the pay is in the name of clearing a debt he has all by himself pegged at N40M.Northside Inc owns the masters of all the songs made for the 4 years she was signed to them.You may not like to hear it because of reasons you can't explain but nothing has changed,Cynthia Morgan deserves our sympathy.She is still another sad case of a talented artiste whose desperation to move up in their music career was exploited.

CORRUPTION IN THE EAGLES: WHY YOU SHOULDN'T TAKE OBASI & TAIWO TOO SERIOUSLY

Over the last 5 days, the football world has been rattled by the allegations of 2 former Eagles' players,Chinedu Obasi and Taye Taiwo.Both claim there was corruption going on in the national team during the era of late Stephen Okechukwu Keshi as head coach.Former team media officer, Ben Alaiya has come out to strongly deny Obasi's claim of being asked to pay to be in the 2014 World Cup team while former assistant coach,Ike Shorunmu's disavowal included that of Taye Taiwo who said he left the team because Keshi was involved in 'dirty dealings'.

The denial hardly ever gets as much attention as a mind-blowing allegation so as such,these players' accounts of what transpired in their time is still buzzing.Frankly,you wouldn't blame anyone for paying little or no attention to the denials.The mind of the average nigerian has been moulded by the numerous stories of corruption in nigerian football over at least the last 2 decades to absorb these allegations as definitely true.

We have heard of FA officials arranging fake friendlies that eventually get cancelled so that they can pocket the funds allocated and also of players buying rolex watches for coaches after the era of the Eagles mafia; a group of players that determined who played and who didn't.The current NFF President,Amaju Pinnick and other members of the glass house are currently being accused by the EFCC of diverting a total sum of $8.4M in FIFA grants.

In an open letter i wrote to the sports minister,Mr Sunday Aare after Pinnick discussed terms of a contract Rohr was yet to receive on TV,i cited unconfirmed stories suggesting Pinnick was angry at head coach,Genort Rohr for refusing to allow his players give 'gifts' and didn't discuss or notify Rohr of the appointment of Joseph Yobo (who is his preferred choice of head coach) as Rohr's assistant because he was hoping Rohr would quit due to the disrespectful manner in which he was being treated.

However if one chooses to set aside the notoriety of the major stakeholders in football as a parameter for judging the allegations by Taiwo and Obasi and analyzes the matter wholistically, the conclusion would have to be that it is not safe to attach too much weight to what they are claiming.At least until strong corroborative evidence surfaces.

To start with,Chinedu Obasi and Taye Taiwo were never an integral part of Stephen Keshi's plans when he became coach.As Keshi's policy of unearthing young talents home and abroad started to take shape,most members of their era started to make way for younger and 'poorer' players.

Prior to the provisional list for the 2014 World Cup being released,Nigeria had played and won the Afcon in South Africa a year before.Obasi and Taiwo were not in that team.More notably,the 2014 World cup team which Obasi claimed to have refused to pay a bribe to be part of had players like Azubuike Egwueke of Warri Wolves,Kunle Odunlami of Sunshine stars,Ejike Uzoenyi of Rangers and Godfrey Oboabona, the former captain of Sunshine stars who had just left the team months earlier to go overseas.

There were a plethora of foreign stars at that time lwho could afford to pay to be in the team ahead of these players and others like Juwon Oshaniwa of Ashdod in Israel who was the left back of the team; the position Taye Taiwo plays.While Obasi didn't mention names as he was urged to by the former Eagles media officer, Taiwo it would be recalled was more explicit and cited the 'dirty dealings' of Keshi as his reason for leaving the Eagles.

Taiwo never told anyone then he had left the Eagles and wouldn't honour any more invitations.He played only one game under Keshi and that was an Afcon qualifier against Rwanda.That nigerians never bothered asking back then why he wasn't being invited speaks to the fact that he wasn't the player he once was.As a matter of fact, Taiwo told Goal.com's Shina Oludare afterwards that he would play for the Eagles if he was ever invited and that Keshi hadn't been answering his calls.It is shameful for Taiwo to say now that he 'packed his things and left' the Eagles.

In November 2012,Obasi was telling the press that he would be happy to return to the Eagles if Keshi gave him a chance to fight for a place in the Afcon team after returning from injury.Keshi went on to win the Afcon and at about that same time a year later,Obasi was left out of the provisional team for the 2014 World Cup because he was injured again.Shorunmu has said this so has Ben Alaiya.Obasi is not disputing these claims now like he also didn't in 2014.

Without outrightly dismissing what they allege,the evidence available points to both players being victims of Keshi's revolution than of the players being pushed out for refusing to pay bribes.The closest thing to a corroboration both have gotten from anyone was Keshi's assistant Daniel Amokachi telling KweseESPN that striker, Brown Ideye deserved to be in the World cup team.However,he didn't say Keshi received bribe,he only said he was helpless because he wasn't the coach.Amokachi impeached his own credibility when he said 'players he didn't even know' made the team when every member of the final 23 was part of a provisional team of 30 that he camped with.

More intriguing is the fact that he was suggesting Ideye's dropping had something to do with him (Amokachi) fighting a lot of people.If anything, his interview points more to him being the corrupt one since 'his boy' would be dropped by people he was fighting with to annoy him.

Anyone who watched that team would attest to the fact that Ideye was not a stand out performer.His goals ratio tell the whole story.The young and hungry template had worked for Keshi at Afcon 2013 and had come to be accepted as his trademark in 2014.

From where i am standing these players were more victim of that than anything else.