Popular Sierra Leonean musician Emmerson Amidu Bockarie, widely known as Emmerson, has been named as a co-defendant in a U.S. federal lawsuit accusing Nigerian Afrobeats star David ‘Davido’ Adeleke of intellectual property theft.

The lawsuit, filed on April 4 in the United States District Court in Manhattan, stems from allegations that Davido and his collaborators, including Emmerson, unlawfully used elements of a 2022 track titled Work to produce the 2024 release Strawberry on Ice, which featured Emmerson.

According to court documents, four Nigerian artists — Martins Chukwuka Emmanuel, Abel Great Umaru, Kelvin Ayodele Campbell, and David Ovhioghena Umaru — claim they submitted Work to Davido in January 2022 in hopes of securing a collaboration. Instead, they allege that Davido shared the track with Emmerson, who then sampled its vocals and instrumentals without permission to create Strawberry on Ice.

Also named in the lawsuit are Carlos Jenkins, Matthew Quinney, Marques Miles II, and Wynn Records — the label responsible for distributing the contested track.

Related News

Efforts to settle the matter privately reportedly fell apart. The plaintiffs claim that on March 14, 2025, Davido agreed to a $45,000 settlement and a royalty arrangement granting the original creators 40% of the composition rights and 20% of the master recording. However, the Nigerian superstar allegedly failed to meet the March 24 deadline for fulfilling the agreement.

In light of the breach, the plaintiffs are now seeking $150,000 in damages and a formal legal declaration recognizing their ownership rights to the song. They are also asking the court to permanently restrain Davido, Emmerson, and their associates from further infringing on their intellectual property.

The court has given Davido 21 days to respond to the lawsuit. So far, he has not issued any public statement on the matter. Wynn Records also declined to comment when contacted by Peoples Gazette.

This legal battle marks a rare case involving a top Sierra Leonean artist being drawn into an international copyright dispute in the United States, placing Emmerson under legal scrutiny alongside one of Africa’s biggest music stars.