Celebrity Nigerian chef and restaurateur Hilda Baci has threatened legal action against Afrobeats singer Seyi Vibez over social media posts in which he allegedly linked her to disputed funds arising from a wider royalty battle involving Dapper Music and also made disparaging claims about her food.
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The dispute arose from an ongoing public confrontation involving Seyi Vibez, Shallipopi and T.I Blaze on one side and their former record label, Dapper Music, founded by Damilola “Dapper” Akinwunmi, on the other.
The artistes have publicly raised allegations concerning royalty transparency, catalogue rights, contracts and funds they say are due to them, allegations Dapper Music has denied.
During the heated exchanges on X, Seyi Vibez turned his attention to Baci, who has been publicly linked romantically with Akinwunmi.
In one of the posts attributed to him, the singer alleged that money generated from the artistes’ catalogues had been spent on Baci’s cosmetic surgery, writing: “Na Hilda Baci BBL all una catalogue money dey go.”
He subsequently made another personal claim concerning her professional work as a chef, alleging that food prepared by Baci had nearly killed him.
“I chop Hilda Baci food one day. Na the same Dapper give me. The food almost kill me,” the singer was reported to have posted.
The allegations have not been established as fact.
Baci, whose business and public reputation are closely connected to her culinary career, subsequently instructed lawyers to issue a pre-action warning accusing Seyi Vibez of libel and defamation.
Her lawyers demanded the immediate removal of the publications and any related posts, comments, images, videos or republications containing the allegations.
“In light of the foregoing, we hereby demand that upon receipt of this letter, you immediately remove and permanently delete the above referenced publications together with any other statement, post, comment, image, video and repost,” the letter stated.
Baci also demanded a clear public apology and retraction across the singer’s social media platforms.
“Issue a clear and unequivocal public apology and retraction in respect of the offending publications, to be published prominently and contemporaneously across all your social media accounts,” the letter demanded.
Her lawyers further gave Seyi Vibez three days from receipt of the letter to provide a written undertaking that he would stop publishing or communicating allegedly defamatory material concerning her.
“Within three days of your receipt of this letter, we further demand that you provide a written undertaking confirming that you shall henceforth cease and desist from publishing, communicating any defamatory content concerning our client,” the letter stated.
The warning threatened legal proceedings should the singer fail to comply with the demands.
The dispute involving Baci is separate from the underlying commercial disagreement between Dapper Music and its former artistes.
Seyi Vibez, Shallipopi and T.I Blaze have accused the label and its founder of various improprieties relating to their music businesses, including alleged withholding of royalties and questions surrounding catalogue income.
Public claims have also been made concerning an alleged ₦1 billion in funds, although the accusations remain disputed and have not been judicially established.
Shallipopi has separately alleged that his signature was improperly used in connection with a 10-year international distribution agreement involving Virgin Music Group and claimed that royalties relating to dozens of songs remained unpaid.
Seyi Vibez has also alleged that revenue generated from his music while with the label was used to finance other artistes.
Dapper has rejected allegations of financial wrongdoing, catalogue sales and forged signatures.
The music executive has reportedly challenged the former artistes to submit the disputed financial and contractual issues to an independent forensic audit covering contracts, royalty payments, distribution statements and relevant financial records.
Against that backdrop, Seyi Vibez’s decision to bring Baci personally into the dispute prompted the chef’s legal intervention.
Her position is essentially that whatever commercial disagreement exists between the artistes and Dapper Music does not justify publications capable of portraying her as a beneficiary of allegedly diverted funds or damaging her reputation as a chef and businesswoman.
The threatened action has not yet developed into a filed court case.
At this stage, it remains a pre-action defamation dispute in which Baci is demanding removal of the publications, a public apology and retraction, and an undertaking against further allegedly defamatory statements.
Subsequent reports indicated that Seyi Vibez had deleted the offending posts concerning Baci following the legal warning.
However, there had been no reported public apology from the singer at the time of the latest reports.
Deletion of the posts does not necessarily bring a potential defamation claim to an end, as Baci could still pursue other remedies if she considers the response inadequate, including damages, an injunction, a formal retraction, apology and legal costs.
Should proceedings eventually be filed, a court would likely have to determine the meaning of the words published, whether they referred to Baci, whether they were communicated to third parties and whether they were capable of lowering her reputation in the estimation of reasonable members of society.
Any defence raised by Seyi Vibez could also require examination of whether the statements were true, constituted legally protected opinion or fell within any other recognised defence to defamation.
The underlying claims about Dapper Music’s finances would similarly require evidence rather than social media assertions, including contracts, distribution agreements, royalty statements, financial records and potentially audited accounts.
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