By Jude Ndukwe<\/p>\n
The Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC,has issued a 7-day ultimatum to Folarin
\n\u2018Falz\u2019 Falana to apologise to Muslimsand withdraw his trending video,
\n\u201cThis is Nigeria\u201d, over what the group termed\u201cinsensitive, thoughtless and
\nhighly provocative\u201d scenes.<\/p>\n
The group also claimed that \u201cThevideo manifests ethnic bias against
\nFulanis while it ignored the criminalactivities of ethnic militia of the
\nMiddle Belt who have also massacred Fulanisand rustled their cattle in
\ntheir thousands\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cItis a hate video. This video has the potential of causing religious
\ncrisis ofunprecedented dimension. It is an assault on the self-dignity of
\nevery Muslim.It is freedom of expression gone haywire\u201d, MURIC further
\nstated.<\/p>\n
Really?<\/p>\n
Itis very obvious that those who crafted that ultimatum to Falz do not
\nunderstandwhat a work of art like the video in question represents both in
\ncontent and inform. Apart from its entertainment value which is derived
\nfrom its form, art isnothing but the imitation or the reflection of a
\nsociety. Truth be told, thereis nothing in that video that should offend
\nanyone who is deeply and trulytouched by the nauseating level of
\nsocio-political decadence driving our nationto the precipice which are
\nmost times perpetrated and perpetuated under the guiseof religion.<\/p>\n
Ifcrafters of that ultimatum understood what art is, they would not even
\ntake theexplanations of Falz for anything, they would rather seek an
\nindependent anddispassionate interpretations of the musical video in a
\nmanner which can beuseful to them and others in the correction of our
\nsocietal ills rather thandissipate scarce energy on a beautiful work of
\nart. This is because in art, itis believed that \u201cthe author is \u2018dead\u2019\u201d and
\nso has no explanations to makeabout his work but leaves it to the
\ndissection of its users.<\/p>\n
Forexample, some have interpreted part of the song which says \u201ceverybody
\nbe criminal\u201d to mean that Falz is referring to allNigerians as criminals.
\nBut far from it, in another view, it could be that whathe is saying by
\nthat line is that not everyone who lives a fairly comfortablelifestyle
\nmade his riches through fraudulent means.<\/p>\n
This could be his way ofbalancing critical issues raised in the song
\nbecause \u201cWe operate a predatoryneo-colonialism capitalist system which is
\nfounded on fraud and exploitationand therefore we are bound to have
\ncorruption\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
So he says, \u201cThis is Nigeriawhere because I\u2019m on TV now, person wey no get
\nwork is checking to see if mywatch is original\u201d. In other words, even if
\nhis wristwatch is \u201coriginal\u201d, heworked for it through his music that has
\nput him on TV and gave an undeclaredbut implied advice to such a person to
\ngo find him\/herself a job as it is noteveryone with an \u201coriginal\u201d
\nwristwatch that participates in the \u201cfraud andexploitation\u201d going on in
\nthe country even though such people think \u201ceverybody be criminal\u201d.<\/p>\n
So rather than interpret the songfrom the parochial premise of an attack
\non a particular religion, respectablebodies like MURIC should download the
\nvideo on multiple devices as may belegally permissible and distribute to
\nmillions of their members to study andcome up with ways Nigeria can tackle
\nthe many socio-political and economic illsthat are the crux of the message
\nin Falz\u2019s musical video.<\/p>\n
It is becoming too monotonous andineffective for MURIC and such other
\nbodies to keep issuing threats wheneverthe reality of the ills of religion
\nis exposed either in speech, writing, songor movie. After all, Falz also
\nindicted the Christian faith in his wellchoreographed interpretation of
\nthe sad situation the country is in. Christianswill not be caught issuing
\nthreats because humility as a cardinal virtue oftheir religion requires
\nthat they rather look inward and correct the ills stillexisting among them
\nthan fight those who expose them.<\/p>\n
It is therefore the height ofhypocrisy for MURIC to threaten the young
\nmusical star for using images ofgirls in hijab dancing \u201cshaku shaku\u201d as if
\nthere are no hijab-wearing girlsprostituting audaciously particularly in
\nAbuja and other places. MURIC shoulddeploy its resources, since it has so
\nmuch to sue Falz, to convincing suchhijab-wearing prostitutes to abandon
\ntheir adverse social life, get themrehabilitated and reintegrated into
\nsociety.<\/p>\n
Once again, since art is not andcannot be limited to one particular
\ninterpretation, I make bold to say that itis such sad realities that Falz
\ntries to depict in his video. Since art is amirror of the society, no one
\ncan blame any artist\/artiste for speaking tosociety using the realities in
\nthe same society no matter who or which group isinvolved. Not doing so
\nwould amount to a corrupt reproduction of reality. Thisis why in a
\nliterature class, the interpretation of a book can be as diverse asall the
\nstudents studying the book, yet, they could all be correct.<\/p>\n
It would be a total waste of timeand resources to take Falz to court for
\ndepicting \u201ca character that dressedlike a Fulani man, who suddenly
\nabandoned his traditional guitar and beheaded aman\u201d. The simple evidence
\nFalz would need to present in court that he did notmake up the scene to
\ndenigrate or ridicule any particular religion or ethnicgroup but only
\nreflecting the realities of our society would be to just presenta plethora
\nof newspaper reports of killings carried out by Fulani herdsmenterrorists
\nand official statements from government functionaries at all
\nlevelsconcerning the killings, videos of claims of responsibility for the
\nmanykillings by groups of Fulani extraction etc, and MURIC would be forced
\nto runback home with its tail between its legs.<\/p>\n
In other works, even the policeand the judiciary have been subjects of
\npainful but truthful expose on thecorruption that goes on among their
\nrespective professions. If the police decideto arrest every artiste or
\nmovie maker that depict that some of them arecorrupt and if the judiciary
\ndecides to jail everyone who produces a work ofart that depicts some
\nnegative developments in their field, we certainly willnot have the
\nentertainment industry which is Nigeria\u2019s new crude oil if wellharnessed
\nrather than being well harassed.<\/p>\n
In conclusion, while the videocontinues to enjoy acceptability worldwide,
\nlet political and religious leadersin every part of the country descend
\nfrom their hypocritical political highhorse, take their lessons from the
\nrich video and work out ways of taking ourcountry back to her days of
\nglory. This, I think, is Falz\u2019s message.<\/p>\n