FEMI KUTI REPLACES CHARLY BOY ON NIGERIAN IDOL

YINKA DAVIES, FEMI KUTI & JEFFREY DANIELS

The announcement was made last Sunday, Afro Beat icon, Femi Kuti, is now a judge on Nigerian Idol and everyone was excited. But no mention was made of the other judges or how many judges there will be on the judging panel for the Season 3 of Nigerian Idol.

We got in touch with the organisers and they simply had this to say: “There are three judges – Yinka Davies, Jeffrey Daniels and Femi Anikulapo-Kuti.”

They didn’t reveal the situation or arrangement that led to the omission of Charly Boy but there has been a lot of issues surrounding his participation as judge in the show lately.

First was the issue of his demands. He was rumoured to have demanded for N30 million as his remuneration for this season which would have been his second season as a judge on the show but the organisers weren’t willing to match it.

Afterwards, everything seemed to have been settled and it was announced that the Area Fada would still be on the show. But there was still a twist to it. He was going to be on it not as Charly Boy but as his alter ego, a lady named Linda.

Then last Sunday was the announcement of Femi as a judge of the show. Many wondered if Charly Boy and Femi Kuti needed to be on the show at the same time.

The idol franchise seem to thrive on having a bogey character on its judging panel and Charly Boy and Femi both seem to fit into that category albeit in their own specially different ways.

At the just concluded Abuja auditions, it was just Femi, Yinka and Jeffrey that participated.

We contacted Charly Boy’s camp to ascertain the situation of things and one of his trusted aides assured us that Charly was still on the judging panel. He said that they were still in contact with the producers and that they have resolved all issues.

 “They sent us a Memorandum Of Understanding and we have signed and sent back to them,” he said. But he also admitted that anything could still have happened but that was the situation at that time.