Damoche’s murder linked to cultists •Killed for flying colour •Album launch, banking career dream cut short

Damoche’s murderer, wherever he may be, has cut down the plans of the late musician’s to be among the few graduates in Nigeria’s music industry as he should have begun his final year examinations at the Lagos State University(LASU) this week.

The Banking & Finance undergraduate had been preparing for the examinations when gunmen suspected to be cultists shot him dead on Thursday evening in front of LASU gate around 5.00p.m as he left classroom for home.

Kool-B, an upcoming artiste who featured Damoche in another version of his “Bere Mi” video, was the first to call R’s attention to the gruesome murder at 5.44p.m that day.

Five minutes after that call, pictures of Damoche lying in pool of blood in the trunk of a white truck went viral.

It was believed he was killed by cultists for flying(showing off) the blue colour.

Damoche, had forced his way into the music industry with the lewd song entitled “Obotoshe,Obotoshe” in 2011.

A few weeks before the shooting, the musician had been robbed of his phones,ATM cards and other assessories in Lagos and was incommunicado for days until he retrieved his line. He lost his contacts to the phone robbery and was starting to reconnect with them when the sad incident happened. He had been billed for the March edition of a monthly event in Ibadan, and was eagerly preparing for it, when the gruesome murder took place, but he was more interested in completing his final years exams this month before his life was cut  short by two shots to the head and another to the arm.

It was not only his exams that he looked forward to completing, the musician had planned to release his second album in April when this happened.
In fact, one of his singles entitled “Shake Your Bumbum”, was number 19 on the non-stop 37-track of Idi Eshin mixtape.

His most recent single entitled “Fall In circle”, that featured Drama, was slated for release this month.

Since Wednesday, the musician had been promoting his latest single on the internet and was set for a radio interview on March 9 in efforts to promote the song until death prevented this. Even the organisers of the annual Easter re-loaded Easter hunt,Poka Records, had slated him to perform with Danny Young, Stidman and Black solo, among others, that day. The show was designed to help upcoming acts showcase their talents and get the chance of winning cash and other gift items.

In honour of the slained musician, a spokesman of the organisers of the recently started “Celebrating Our Own” (COO), a monthly event that celebrates musicians, comedians, sportsmen and movie stars in Ibadan, Mr. Yinka Adejuwon of In-House Entertainment and its partner, Celebrent, said that Damoche had agreed to be hosted to a Listening Party in March and had looked forward to it, but his death, “which had came as a shock to many of us, including Shef, the CEO of Options 24/Seven, the club that would have hosted him on March 28, has left us with no choice than to cancel this month’s edition of COO in his honour and respect.

“We had already informed people that Damoche would be the next act that we wanted to celebrate after Beautiful Nubia in January and Saidi Balogun in February, its sad that will not come to be”, he lamented.

Meanwhile, a source in LASU has informed R that the musician might have been killed for wearing blue top and slacks, the colour of apparels that a particular cult group members wear on Thursdays.

It is believed that a rival group had noted Damoche’s penchant for  flying (show off) the blues on a day reserved for the group’s members only and had been warned him several times to stop doing so, but he purportedly refused to heed the warning.

Rumour had it that Damoche belonged to a cult group and that there were signals that there would be an attack on the campus as it was getting to examination time. LASU cultists are alleged  to always hit other members when it is getting to an exam because that is usually the time that members who have crossed another could be dealt with. “There is no way a student will miss an exam, or a compulsory test. That is the time that those who have stayed away from classes always come to campus, if only briefly to be seen.

“We know he was not killed just to waste him, but because the killers either wanted to avenge another killing, or for daring to show up wearing blue top and blue jeans on a Thursday. He must have belonged to a cult group too else he won’t have been dogged (killed) that way.”