Nigerian superstar David ‘Davido’ Adeleke has been dragged before a U.S. federal court over allegations of intellectual property theft related to his 2024 track “Strawberry on Ice.”
According to court filings obtained by Peoples Gazette, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has given Davido 21 days to respond to the lawsuit filed by four Nigerian artists—Martins Chukwuka Emmanuel, Abel Great Umaru, Kelvin Ayodele Campbell, and David Ovhioghena Umaru—who claim their 2022 song “Work” was unlawfully used in Davido’s recent release.
The plaintiffs allege that they shared a demo of “Work” with Davido in January 2022 as part of a potential collaboration aimed at gaining exposure in the music industry. However, they claim Davido later passed the song to Sierra Leonean artist Emmerson Amidu Bockarie—known professionally as Emmerson—without permission. Together, the defendants allegedly sampled vocal and instrumental elements from the origina track to create “Strawberry on Ice.”
Emmerson, along with Carlos Jenkins, Matthew Quinney, Marques Miles II, and Wynn Records—the label that distributed the track—were also named as co-defendants in the lawsuit filed on April 4, 2025.
In an attempt to settle the matter, court documents revealed that Davido agreed on March 14 to pay the group a $45,000 lump sum and allocate 40 percent of the composition royalties and 20 percent of the sound recording royalties of “Strawberry on Ice” to the plaintiffs. But despite the agreement and a payment deadline of March 24, Davido allegedly failed to uphold his end of the deal.
The plaintiffs are now asking the court to officially declare Davido and his co-defendants in breach of their intellectual property rights. They are seeking $150,000 in damages and legal ownership of 40 percent of the song’s composition and 20 percent of the master recording. They have also requested a permanent injunction to prevent further infringement on the song or any of their future works.
As of Wednesday, Davido has not responded to requests for comment, and representatives for Wynn Records also declined to speak on the matter.
