Ghanaian entertainment personality Michy, has explained her controversial hand gesture at the recent ‘Ashaiman to the World’ concert.
She had performed alongside Nautyca, who had been billed for the annual event, with whom she has several songs including the hit ‘OK’.
At the end of her performance, Michy had held her two hands up and holding her ring fingers down with her thumbs, she had formed the famous Shatta Wale sign prompting the social media rumour mill.
On Thursday, 8 September, 2022, she was on Accra 100.5 FM’s mid-morning show, Ayekoo Ayekoo, hosted by Nana Romeo and explained herself.
First, she said, “It’s a symbol of hope,” and admitted, “[It] was created or probably promoted by Shatta [Wale]”, her former fiancé.
She spoke about why she did it.
One, she stressed the organiser of the event, Stonebwoy, “was very positive” and the reception from the audience, “was massive. The love was grand. I was very surprised.”
This it seems, “gave some spark to what I had done. It wasn’t planned, it was an impromptu feeling.”
“I move by intuition, I move with what I feel inside my body. It wasn’t planned, I don’t know why I put it up but if that’s what will make everybody know that love is love, and there’s no need to fight [then so be it]. We need to collaborate and progress. In this industry, we need each other. Why are we here fighting?” she elaborated.
Supporters from the camps of Ghanaian dancehall stars Shatta Wale and Stonebwoy are famous rivals and until recently, the leaders of both camps had been sworn enemies, the climax of their tensions being the gun incident at the 2019 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards.
Giving this, Michy who has a son with Shatta Wale, noted, “someone would think I was in enemy territory” at the ‘Ashaiman to the World’ concert but “No! I combined and collaborated the two of them, whether they liked it or not.”
Throwing the ‘Wale Sign’, however, she was “shocked [at] the number of hands that went up with the symbol because this is a Bhim show and there are SM people here. What are you fighting for? I’m not a preacher of violence, I’m a preacher of love.”
Citing the touted cohesion amongst Nigerian creatives, she asked, “Why are we here going against ourselves? And I am not blaming Shatta and I’m not blaming Stonebwoy, it’s a character. Somebody must show that it’s okay to be on good terms with everybody especially for business sake.”
To Michy, it was not a matter of Shatta Movement (Shatta Wale fans) being at a Bhim Nation (Stonebwoy fans) concert.
“The thing is, the fans from both camps are the same,” she opined.
She compared the crowd to political rally’s where people go to take “paraphernalia and food” despite their open or secret political affiliations or beliefs.
“So instead of us working against ourselves when we are the same people, we might as well join. Like the local broom, we can’t function apart as separate sticks; we need to be together to be effective,” she encouraged.
Coming back to the hand gesture, the TV personality concluded if the symbol she threw at the concert will be a motion to prompt unity, “then I’m all for it” adding, in hindsight, since Shatta Wale and Stonebwoy have both publicly nodded to her action, “indirectly, unconsciously, something big has happened. A certain wall has been broken. Now we should all feel comfortable.”