*I Replied Seyi Tinubu With My Song, I Didn’t Attack Him, Says Abdulkareem
NOBEL Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, and the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN), have condemned the ban clamped on a song by Nigerian singer and rapper, Eedris Abdulkareem, perceived to be critical of President Bola Tinubu by the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC), after tagging Tell Your Papa as inappropriate and banning it on radio and television.
Condemning the NBC action, Soyinka said it as a return to the culture of censorship and a threat to the right to free expression, while PMAN noted that the ban would be counterproductive and make people want to stream it more.
In a statement issued from the New York University in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, April 13, Soyinka criticised the action and its wider implications, saying it echoed past attempts to stifle artistic and socio-political commentary in Nigeria.
While expressing irony in suggesting that the ban did not go far enough, he added: “It is not only the allegedly offensive record that should be banned; the musician himself should be proscribed.
“Next, PMAN, or whatever musical association of which Abdulkareem is a member, should also go under the hammer.”
He warned that such censorship was not only counterproductive, but also dangerous to democratic development, urging the regulatory body to reverse what he described as a “petulant irrationality,” saying any government that only tolerates praise-singers has already commenced a downhill slide into the abyss.
Soyinka said though he had not listened to the song, but stressed that the issue transcends content and concerns a fundamental democratic principle.
“The ban is a boost to the artist’s nest egg, thanks to free governmental promotion. Mr. Abdulkareem must be currently warbling his merry way all the way to the bank. I envy him,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Abdulkareem has clarified that he didn’t attack Tinubu’s son, Seyi, with his new song, but only replied to his statement in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, last month, that his father is Nigeria’s best-ever president.
The singer, on a televidion programme, said Tell Your Papa was not an attack on Seyi, but a call for him to tell his father to address Nigeria’s economic and security challenges, insisting: “Nigerian youths are just asking for basics- electricity, security, enabling economic environment, job creation and not palliatives.
“So, why should I attack Seyi Tinubu personally? If Seyi Tinubu never talked about it, I wouldn’t have recorded a song like that.
“So, I am replying to the video that he made. If he had kept quiet, I wouldn’t have said anything. I am inspired by Seyi Tinubu to record that song.”
Abdulkareem lamented that 24 years after he released Nigeria jagajaga, the song is still relevant because Nigeria has not experienced the necessary development.
He noted: “I was inspired by Seyi Tinubu to record the song. I saw a video where he was campaigning for his father and he was defending his father, saying ‘My father is the best president, my father is the greatest president, they are coming for my father…’
“He (Seyi) repeated it like six times. But for Seyi, I differ because it looks more perfect when you are silent than when you speak. I would advise Seyi to hand over the microphone to the MC next time. He lacks the charisma and purpose to express himself, telling the truth about the true economic situation in Nigeria under his father’s government.
“He (Tinubu) has empowered Seyi as his son, but Nigerian youths don’t have jobs, talkless of food to eat. The Nigerian youths can’t travel by road, so I ask Seyi Tinubu to travel by road without his security. Let him feel the pains of ordinary citizens.”
