The police investigation into allegations of financial misconduct against Pretty Okafor, President of the Performing Musicians Employers Association of Nigeria,PMAN, has found no evidence of wrongdoing. Speaking at a press conference during the week, Okafor denied the allegations, stating that they were part of a plot to topple his leadership.
The PMAN National Working Committee,NWC, had suspended Okafor in 2024 over alleged financial misconduct, appointing Sunny Neji as acting president. In a swift reaction, the National Executive Committee,NEC, later suspended Neji, Ruggedman, Zaaki Azzay, and JFO Baba Ojonorgua for undermining the association’s integrity.
The allegations against Okafor were investigated by the police, and the findings have cleared him of any financial misconduct. Okafor claimed that the allegations were instigated by some members of the National Working Committee (NWC) while he was overseas on official PMAN duty.
Okafor said “Let me state this in the strongest terms possible: there was never any financial misconduct. There was never any forgery. There was no breach of the PMAN Constitution on my part. Now, the truth has finally prevailed.
“The plot was to topple a legitimate leadership without just cause while I was in Spain on official PMAN duty. Certain members of the then National Working Committee, NWC, in flagrant violation of the PMAN Constitution, initiated a campaign of calumny against me. They issued me a query and purportedly suspended me without following due process,” Okafor stated.
Okafor said the committee members did not align with the constitutional provision of the association.
He revealed that Neji, Zakky Azzay and Michael Stephen, the singer better known as Ruggedman, voluntarily vacated their official positions adding that their vacated offices will be filled in acting capacity according to Article 11(m).
Okafor also alleged that during the crisis, some police officers and court officials connived to initiate fake legal proceedings.
“In furtherance of their scheme, these dismissed and suspended members of PMAN, in active collaboration with others and using them as fronts, procured a fraudulent consent judgment by deceitfully making them sue themselves and pretend to have resolved the dispute. They never served PMAN at our publicly known registered national address. Instead, they served themselves using the address of the infamously discredited Lobby D, National Arts Theatre, which did not exist in PMAN’s reckoning.”
PMAN president also revealed that fraudulent activities were involved in negotiating PMAN’s Monaco project with the developer. He added that PMAN would establish an Asset Management Company to safeguard PMAN’s properties and investments.
Okafor assured that PMAN remains a strong and significant organization, and it will pursue all legal avenues to bring anyone who has sabotaged the association to justice. He also announced plans to establish an Asset Management Company to safeguard PMAN’s properties and investments.
