Initially announced as a headline act alongside his rival, dancehall artiste Shatta Wale, Stonebwoy's non-appearance raised many questions and led to various speculations.

According to Baba Sadiq Abdulai Abu, the controversy allegedly started with Stonebwoy's manager expressing discontent over Shatta Wale's inclusion in the concert lineup.

Addressing the matter in an interview with Hitz FM, Stonebwoy elaborated on the reasons behind the fallout, focusing on a breach of their agreement regarding event promotion.

Stonebwoy clarified that their agreement with Sadiq was that the event would be a charity show, free of charge, and not publicly promoted. However, Sadiq's decision to advertise the event using flyers, contrary to this agreement, was a major breach of trust.

Stonebwoy emphasised that the inappropriate promotion led to his withdrawal, a decision that was communicated clearly to the event organisers.

"They (the organisers) were in contact with my team, but by the time they would even finish for me to hear the outcome, Baba Sadiq had gone ahead to post a flyer. He even posted the wrong flyer. I don't know what his plans were. So that was what broke us, and we couldn't go. And we communicated that.

“If we had ill intentions, we would have gone ahead to say that we could not make it but I pushed away and suggested we leave it so that the show flowed. Then after, maybe if somebody asks, we can always say, oh, ‘I was sick. I was not feeling well’. So it wouldn’t be like I was going to be disrupting somebody else's show," he said.

Commenting on the public backlash following his decision to withdraw from the event, Stonebwoy expressed disappointment over the personal attacks and false narratives that emerged, affecting him and his family. According to him, the insults and lies spread to the extent that his father and other family members reached out to express their concerns.

"And then the insults on my life came through. I think the insults went so far I had calls from even my father, et cetera.

"We were like, 'Bro, what levels of lies are these? These lies are too much to contain.' But we just chilled and that's how we’ve chilled the whole time,†he said.

He added that, “Nobody can tell me that they’ve seen a reply from any of my people concerning all that misappropriation and that attack on my character. So whatever the plan was or is, only he can answer and tell us what his plans were or are to this day.â€

Despite the provocative nature of the situation, Stonebwoy and his team decided to maintain silence and not engage in public retaliations. Later, he dragged Baba Sadiq to court for defaming him as the matter escalated on social media.