In a statement issued from New York University, Abu Dhabi, on Sunday, Soyinka condemned the action, saying it echoed past attempts to stifle artistic and socio-political commentary in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Eedris Abdulkareem![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Screenshot_20250414-083213_1-300x197.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Eedris Abdulkareem<\/p>\n
Recall that the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, had last week banned media houses from playing Eedris Abdulkareem\u2019s latest song.<\/p>\n
The song, titled \u2018Tell Your Papa,\u2019 is a criticism of this current administration. In it, he directed Seyi Tinubu, son of President Bola Tinubu, to speak to his father about the worsening state of the country.<\/p>\n
In Tell Your Papa, Abdulkareem sings, \u201cSeyi, tell your papa country hard. Tell your papa people dey die. Tell your papa this one don pass jagajaga.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSeyi, how far? I swear your papa no try. Too much empty promises. On behalf of Nigerians, take our message to him; kidnappers dey kill Nigerians. Travel destinations<\/p>\n
\u201cSeyi, try travel by road without your security make you feel the pains of fellow Nigerians. You dey fly private jets, insecurity no be your problem,\u201d he continues singing.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot_20250124-133817_1-212x300.jpg\")
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu<\/p><\/div>\n
The NBC\u2019s circular to media Houses preventing them from playing the song reads: \u201cThe National Broadcasting Commission has identified the song \u2018Tell Your Papa\u2019 by Eedris Abdulkareem, currently trending on social media, as content deemed inappropriate for broadcast due to its objectionable nature. It is therefore classified as Not To Be Broadcast (NTBB), as it violates Section 3. 1.8 of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code. Travel destinations<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Commission requests that your station exercises discretion and refrains from airing this song to maintain responsible broadcasting standards.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour cooperation and commitment to upholding these standards are greatly appreciated.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Soyinka wrote, \u201cCourtesy of an artist operating in a different genre \u2013 the cartoon \u2013 who sent me his recent graphic comment on the event, I learnt recently of a return to the culture of censorship with the banning of the product of a music artist, Eedris Abdulkareem.\u201d<\/p>\n
He expressed irony in suggesting that the ban did not go far enough, stating, \u201cIt is not only the allegedly offensive record that should be banned \u2013 the musician himself should be proscribed. Next, PMAN, or whatever musical association of which Abdulkareem is member, should also go under the hammer,\u201d the playwright stated in a piece posted on PM news.<\/p>\n
While admitting he had not listened to the banned song but stressed that the issue transcends content and concerns a fundamental democratic principle.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt cannot be flouted. That, surely is basic. This is why I feel that we should look on the bright side of any picture and thus recommend the Aleshinloye cartoon \u2013 and others in allied vein \u2013 as an easy-to-apprehend, easy-to-digest summation of the wisdom of attempting to stifle unpalatable works of art or socio-political commentary,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also pointed out the irony that censorship often benefits the targeted artist.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ban is a boost to the artist\u2019s 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,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The literary icon warned that such censorship was not only counterproductive but also dangerous to democratic development.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been through this before, over and over again, ad nauseum. We know where it all ends. It is boring, time-wasting, diversionary but most essential of all, subversive of all seizures of the fundamental right of free expression,\u201d Soyinka noted.<\/p>\n
- \n
- He warned that it creates \u201ca permissive atmosphere of trickle-down power,\u201d where state authorities feel emboldened to clamp down on dissent.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
He went on to condemn broader issues of impunity and mob violence in Nigeria, citing the recent lynching of 19 youths in Edo State.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy heart goes out to friends, colleagues and families of victims and traumatized survivors of this senseless slaughter. Our thirst for justice must remain unslaked,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also referenced the 2022 killing of Deborah Samuel in Sokoto, Soyinka criticized the culture of impunity, saying, \u201cIdentified killers were set free to gloat, and paste their photos on the Social Media\u2026 in full daylight glare, in the presence of both citizen voyeurs and security forces.\u201d<\/p>\n
He called for accountability, warning that \u201cas long as the culture of impunity is given the sheerest strain of legitimacy in any given cause, such gruesome assaults on our common humanity will continue to prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soyinka urged the relevant regulatory body to reverse what he described as a \u201cpetulant irrationality,\u201d warning that any government that only tolerates praise-singers has already commenced a downhill slide into the abyss.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, has berated the ban placed on a song by Nigerian musician, Eedris Abdulkareem, noting that the development is a censorship and threat to the right to free expression. In a statement issued from New York University, Abu Dhabi, on Sunday, Soyinka condemned the action, saying it echoed past attempts to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3392,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2214,2211,2216,2213,2212,149,2215],"class_list":["post-3390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-life-style","tag-atmosphere","tag-censorship","tag-irrationality","tag-permissive","tag-petulant","tag-power","tag-trickle-down"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3390"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3393,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3390\/revisions\/3393"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}