Encomium
Celebrated Nigerian female singer, Tiwa Savage and her manager hubby, Tunji Balogun, otherwise known as Tee Billz, have maintained sealed lips on the tale that their five month marriage “nearing a dead end”.
However, there is every indication that their long-time business relationship has hit the rocks going by recent developments, ENCOMIUM Weekly investigation revealed.
All efforts to get across to the couple didn’t yield the desired result. On Saturday, September 27, 2014, Tiwa Savage didn’t pick our several calls. Instead, a young man believed to be her new manager, whose name is Meka, responded to our enquiries and promised to forward our questions to the singer.
We, however, didn’t get her response before going to press on Sunday, September 28, 2014.
He said; “Tiwa Savage is very busy right now. She has no time to respond to any question or allegation. As we speak, she has a lot of shows lined-up for her during the anniversary celebrations. However, you can send your questions but I doubt if she’ll have time to attend to them.”
Meanwhile, a certain man who claimed to be Tee Billz’s P.A. has been attending to all enquiries on behalf of Tiwa’s husband. On many occasions, he would pick our calls, saying, “Tee Billz is not in the country.”
The last time we called him, on Thursday, September 25, 2014, he assured us that the 323 Entertainment boss should be back into the country next week (this week).
These developments corroborated the rumour that the singer had relieved her husband of his job, and has employed a younger manager, who has been attending shows with her. For instance, the same man was seen with the award winning singer at Jimmy Jatt, Mo Abudu, African Unplugged shows, among others, all without Tee Billz, except at the Nigerian Entertainment Awards (NEA) held in New York, USA.
An industry source who spoke with ENCOMIUM Weekly under anonymity insisted all is not well with the couple who tied the nuptial knot in April 26, 2014, at a fairy tale wedding held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
“I can’t really confirm what transpired between them, but I can tell you all is not well with the couple. Tiwa Savage has since ceased working with Tee Billz. She has a temporary manager handling all her bookings for now. Although, Tee Billz has not been in the country since July or so, they are no longer living together as a couple. Unusual of her, Tiwa Savage failed to send birthday shouts-out when her husband marked his birthday last week Friday.
“I am hearing very disturbing information about them. I pray they settle their misunderstanding and come back as one. We just need to pray for them. That’s what they need right now”, the source concluded.
According to the gist, “Their marriage is not going smoothly as foretold over daily episodes of abuse and violence that has been plaguing them for the past one month. Another source who claimed to know much about the couple said the problem started over money. Tiwa Savage’s husband, Olatunji Balogun was said to be mishandling her finances. He’s reportedly overspending Tiwa Savage’s money on his love-children based in London.”
Both Tiwa Savage and Tee Billz are yet to speak on their alleged crashed marriage since the news broke last week. Their love story started like a rumour since they both returned to Nigeria, until early 2013, when Tee Billz officially declared his intention to marry the delectable singer. What seemed to be Tiwa Savage’s 33rd birthday turned out to be an engagement party. On that day, Tee Billz got down on one knee and Tiwa, though was shocked, didn’t hesitate to say, ‘Yes I do’ in an emotional way, as she slipped the ring into her finger.
The duo made their first public appearance on Saturday, February 16, 2013, at The Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, during the unveiling of Nigerian Idols 12 contestants. Since then, they’ve been seen together at different fora, but declined to talk about their relationship, even when there was a rumour that Tunji has a babymama and love-children in the States.
The beautiful couple ignored rumour mongers as they moved on with their affair. To prove they’re in love, they made a public display of affection for each other, before announcing Saturday, November 23, 2013, as their traditional wedding, which was well attended by bigwigs in music, comedy and Nollywood. They concluded their marital rites with a magical white wedding in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Saturday, April 26, 2014.
The MAVIN first lady is undisputedly one of Nigeria’s finest singers, who stormed the industry in 2010, with Kele Kele Love single. Despite the news of alleged crashed marriage, Tiwa Savage’s brand is still waxing stronger. ENCOMIUM Weekly’s findings revealed that she’s one of the busiest Nigerian music stars, performing three to four times every week.
People that saw her performing at the wedding of Senator Ita-Giwa’s daughter and MTN Project Fame 7 Winner’s party were astonished about her electrifying performance.
“The Tiwa I saw at MTN Project Fame’s winner party on Friday, September 26, 2014, didn’t look like somebody whose marriage has crashed! She’s simply the best. I just pray the rumour is not true. It is too early for such beautiful union to break”, a source told ENCOMIUM Weekly.
-RASHEED ABUBAKAR
