Mark Okraku-Mantey, a member of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMAs) board, has quelled accusations thrown at the board for nominating Medikal in the Artiste of the Year category at this year's edition of the scheme.

Some industry players after the release of the list of nominees questioned why Medikal made it as they thought his performance the year under review was not impressive to merit the nomination.

But the controversial entertainment pundit said the nascent artiste has earned it because of his solid fan base on various campuses across the country.

Speaking on Hitz FM’s Daybreak Hitz, Okraku-Mantey said he somewhat agrees with people who have issues with Medikal’s nomination because the first time he saw Medikal perform was at the VGMAs nominees announcement party and he was not impressed.

“I think Medikal’s strength was within the universities and more of the younger people. I agree that some of us didn’t see too much of Medikal but the younger folks saw more of Medikal and that is why he earned a nomination. We [Hitz FM] tried to do something with Legon during its SRC week celebration and when I went there, spoke to some of them, I realized that they keep mentioning Medikal. These are some of the things that emerged on the board,” Okraku-Mantey said.

The list of nominees for the 2017 VGMAs was released last Friday followed by an announcement party at Kempinski Hotel.

Medikal will be competing with E.L, Sarkodie, Stonebwoy, Joe Mettle and MzVee for the coveted crown.