Artist dragged Davido to US court because of the alleged theft of songs

Nigerian musician David Adeleke, who is professionally known as Davido, has been given 21 days to emerge before the United States District Court for the South York District in Manhattan to handle accusations of theft of intellectual property.

Four Nigerian musicians – Martin Chukwuka Emmanuel, Abel Great Umaru, Kelvin Ayodele Campbell, and David Ovhoghena Umaru – bombed this case, accused that Davido had stealed their 2022 songs “Work” and used it to compile his own soundtrack, “Strawberry on ES,” in 202.

Together with Carlos Jenkins, Matthew Quinney, Marques Miles II, and Wynn Records – the record label in charge of publishing and distributing the song “Strawberry on Ice” – Davido was sued with Emmerson Amidu Bockarie, better known by the stage name as Emmerson, which was displayed in the song musicians.

This case began in January 2022, when the Plaintiff, who acted in good faith, offered Davido Demo “Work” as part of the possibility of partnership between the parties. This was driven by a group pursuit of significant music breakthroughs.

The plaintiff claimed that instead of collaborating with the group, that Davido brought music to Emmerson without their consent. Emmerson then used the vocal and instrumental section of the song recorded to taste and steal their own version of “Strawberry on Ice.”

Also read: Davido claims he committed cheating after having 5 children with 4 women

The plaintiff claimed that they immediately contacted Davido in an effort to solve problems peacefully, and after a few months, they could talk to artists who were nominated by Grammy. And on March 14, 2025, he agreed to pay a lump to the group of $ 45,000 in the settlement, according to court documents.

Davido also agreed to pay the Plaintiff 20% Royalties for song sound recording and 40% royalties for the composition of the song that underlies “Strawberry on Ice.” However, Davido did not bargain, even though he had promised to pay before the agreed deadline on March 24.

Various musicians winners and fellow defendants were sued in New York on April 4 by the Plaintiff as a result of Davido’s actions.

In their documents, the plaintiff asked the court to declare Davido and his fake colleagues to violate the intellectual property “work”. In addition to compensation of $ 150,000, they want to give a plaintiff 20% of the copyright of the song sound recording and 40% of the copyright of the composition for “strawberry on ice.”

The plaintiff also requested that the court prohibits singers and other defendants to be involved in additional group copyright violations or to take involvement in future actions that will violate the Copyright of the Plaintiff.

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