Dammy Krane
For some time now, fans of singer,
Oyindamola Johnson Emmanuel, aka Dammy Krane, had been bemoaning his
absence from the music scene and were eagerly expecting him to return to
the stage with a big bang. This is because Krane came into the industry
at about the same time with Wizkid and Davido, and many industry
pundits had predicted that the trio would shine in equal proportions.
However, while Davido and Wizkid are the biggest artistes in Africa at
the moment, Dammy cannot even lay claim to being relevant in the
Nigerian music industry. And definitely, this is not the type of
comeback his fans were expecting of him.
The dark-skinned singer was reportedly
arrested on Friday for grand theft and credit card fraud in the US after
he allegedly used stolen credit card details to book a jet for a trip
to Miami from a private jet leasing company, Tap Jets. No sooner had the
story surfaced online than it was followed by the Amin singer’s mug shots. He was reportedly arrested in company with another Nigerian, Chukwuebuka Gabriel Ilochonwu.
The charge sheet, which has since gone
viral on the Internet, listed Krane’s crimes as ‘Grand Theft 3rd
Degree/Armed/Conspiracy/Credit Card Forgery/Intent to Defraud.’
Sunday Scoop sought to
ascertain from insiders close to the embattled singer what the true
story is. According to one of Dammy’s aunties, who lives in the US and
who pleaded for her identity to be shielded, he was only a victim of
circumstance.
She stated, “We don’t stay in the same
state over here but Dammy came to visit me just last week. I got the
news of his detention on the Internet just like everybody else. After
making some calls, I was able to confirm that he was indeed arrested. He
has been in the US for some time now and he has regularly been booked
for shows all across America. The guy he was arrested with had actually
booked him for a show this weekend in Miami. And he (Chukwuebuka) was
the one that paid for the jet and made hotel reservations with the
stolen card details.”
Speaking further, she said, “You know it
is a usual thing for show promoters to book flight tickets for
artistes, so one cannot blame Dammy in this situation. A lawyer has
already been contacted but unfortunately, Dammy would have to stay in
jail till Monday when they would be able to go to court to perfect bail
conditions.”
However, this is contrary to the
prevailing views on social media, with many Nigerians lambasting Krane
for trying to live and portray a lifestyle above his means. The singer
had recently been posting pictures of himself eating, drinking and
dancing on different private jet trips in the US.
Meanwhile, it is not certain what the
status of the contract Dammy allegedly has with Davido’s DMW record
label is. Ever since his sign-in to the label was announced last year,
Dammy has not released any material and Davido, or any of DMW’s
artistes, haven’t mentioned Krane or featured him in any of their songs
or videos. However, David later took to his Snapchat account on Saturday
to post, “Free Dammy Krane. God’s got you.”
Calls put through to Dammy’s mother were not answered as of the time of filing this report.
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