Veteran Fuji musician, King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, popularly known as Kwam1, has cleared the air on the allegations levelled against him by some of his band members that he seized their passports.
Wasiu, also known as K1 De Ultimate, said it was the degrading habits of some of his band members to abscond whenever they travel abroad for music shows or other events that made their passports to be seized.
KWAM1 mentioned the case of a particular member called Ayankunle Ayanlowo, who accused him of enslaving them.
Ayanlowo, who said he had worked with Wasiu for 32 years, had earlier alleged that the Fuji maestro confiscated the passports of the band members during foreign trips, leaving them vulnerable.
The drummer maintained that Kwam1 treated his troupe members shabbily, citing another incident where he ordered him to return home while en route to the hospital for urgent medical treatment.
Reacting to the allegations in an interview with Goldmyne TV, the Fuji king said some of his music crew members were just being mischievous and attempting to dent his image in their respective interviews.
He said there have been many attempts by them to abscond whenever they travelled out of the country for a music tour, adding that they incur the wrath of embassy officials in the process.
Kwam1 said Ayanlowo ran away from the band while they were on a tour in England, and since then, his travel documents have been confiscated by the British authorities for overstaying beyond the return date on the visa.
He said, “Ayankunle and two others ran away from the band in England with their passports. And we returned to Nigeria.
“That was in the 90s. After he ran away, information reaching us indicated that in the course of his overstaying, he gave his passport to someone to come and present it at the British embassy. As of that time, they were not stamping visas on passport leaflets. The person successfully had his details changed to his while he maintained Ayankunle’s passport.
“On scrutiny, the embassy detected and withheld the passport. Ayankunle’s passport is at the British High Commission. This is someone who can barely read or write, and I facilitated a passport for him. I’m not the one who collected his passport. He has run away with it. How come the same passport is with me?”
Speaking on another incident pertaining to another band member, identified as Ismaila Olubade, Kwam1 accused him of withholding his passport and leaving it in the United States to go to his ex-wife in London.
Kwam1 noted that the rash behaviours of his band members were unbecoming, compelling him to disband them.
The veteran singer added, “Is it possible for them to return to Nigeria without their passports? Of course, they all have their passports. If I had withheld their passports, Immigration or Customs would have questioned what I was doing with such a number of passports.”
“When I saw that their problems were becoming too much for me, I disbanded them and then regrouped again with new members. After them, another set of people ran away. It’s a common thing with band members.”
