D’banj’s Manager Bankulli Opens up!

Since the news broke about two weeks ago, both parties have kept mum over the issue, thus leading to wild speculations. A version has it that, “following repeated disagreements between D’banj and Bankulli that bothered on issues of trust, leading to accusations and counter-accusations, D’banj got angry and slapped Bankulli and subsequently fired him”.

Another version says; “The pair got into a heated argument when D’banj found out Bankulli went to Paris after the Koko concert to work on Kanye West’s next album without his knowledge. Bankulli allegedly left for Paris after the Koko concert in December and his employer/artiste wasn’t aware of his ‘clandestine’ trip to Paris to drop adlibs on Kanye’s next album”. However, Entertainment Gist can authoritatively reveal to you that the relationship between D’banj and Bankulli began to go sour towards the end of last year, based on accusations that D’banj is very insensitive and nonchalant. Sources in D’banj’s camp who spoke with Entertainment Gist on condition of anonymity revealed that, “what really happened is an accumulation of D’banj’s insensitive attitude, of course he’s a big star, but he’s a very difficult person, its part of his attitude and lifestyle”.

After the last edition of Koko Concert that was held in December 2012 at the Eko Atlantic city, the source claimed that D’banj went ahead to do a lot of things without consulting with his team, and on the few occasions he did, he was insensitive, and rather chose to attend private parties enjoying himself which in no small measure contributed to some of the flops recorded during the Koko concert, and this further infuriated Bankulli. “Truthfully, Bankulli travelled to Paris, France few days after Koko Concert, and baba (D’banj) was aware, but it’s not certain as at that time if he was going to France to work with Kanye West or not, but it seemed D’banj wasn’t comfortable with the fact that Bankulli was getting more attention from Kanye West’s camp” the source said. The source laughed when posed with the question if Bankuli was indeed fired. “Fired ke, he walked away. Bankuli showed courage and walked away because I believe he had had enough. Working with D’banj is tough as hell. Do you know that everybody that works with baba always gets tired of him and walks away? Fired him? No o.”

When contacted by Entertainment Gist, Bankulli who was unreachable for days and later was not taking calls on his mobile, declined to comment on the issue. All he said was, “D’banj didn’t fire me, I just decided to move on”. He declined having any heated argument with D’banj, or if he was in France to work with Kanye West without D’banj’s consent.

For those who don’t know, D’banj and Bankulli have not seen eye to eye this year, their friendship however dates back to over 10 years ago when Bankuli worked with R70 under DJ Abass and Ayo Shonaiya to provide management and agency support.