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By Bayo Davids
Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, is the latest eminent personality to slam the President Bola Tinubu-led government over its ban placed on the song ‘Tell Your Papa’ by veteran rapper, Eedris Abdulkareem.
The Professor of Comparative Literature, known for his rights activism, liked the development to the return to the culture of censorship and a threat to the right to free expression.
In a statement issued from New York University, Abu Dhabi, on Sunday, Soyinka jibed the National Broadcasting Commission, stressing that its action is a shameful reminder of past attempts to stifle free speech and artistic creation.
“Courtesy of an artist operating in a different genre – the cartoon – 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,” Soyinka said.
He expressed irony in suggesting that the ban did not go far enough, stating, “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.”
While noting that he’s yet to listen to the banned song, Soyinka added that the issue transcends content and concerns a fundamental democratic principle.
“It 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 – and others in allied vein – as an easy-to-apprehend, easy-to-digest summation of the wisdom of attempting to stifle unpalatable works of art or socio-political commentary,” he said.
He continued, “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 added.
The dramatist cum cultural icon warned that such censorship was not only counterproductive but also dangerous to democratic development.
“We 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,” Soyinka said.
He warned that it creates “A permissive atmosphere of trickle-down power,” where state authorities feel emboldened to clamp down on dissent.
Soyinka’s statement also touched on broader issues of impunity and mob violence in Nigeria, lamenting the recent lynching of 16 persons in Edo State.
“My heart goes out to friends, colleagues and families of victims and traumatized survivors of this senseless slaughter. Our thirst for justice must remain unslaked,” he said.
Citing the 2022 killing of Deborah Samuel in Sokoto, Soyinka decried the culture of impunity, saying, “Identified killers were set free to gloat, and paste their photos on social media… in full daylight glare, in the presence of both citizen voyeurs and security forces.”
The author warned that “As 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.”
He further urged relevant regulatory bodies to reverse what he described as a “Petulant irrationality,” warning that any government that only tolerates praise singers has already commenced a downhill slide into the abyss.”