In a country where corruption thrives, insecurity rages, and hunger doesn’t knock before entering homes, banning a song for speaking the truth is not just petty, it’s laughable. Nigerian rapper Eedris Abdulkareem released a song, Tell Your Papa, in response to Seyi Tinubu’s public claim that his father, President Bola Tinubu, is Nigeria’s greatest leader. In the song, Abdulkareem didn’t curse, incite violence, or fabricate lies. He simply echoed what every struggling Nigerian youth is saying: “Tell your papa to fix the country.”
The Right to Sing is the Right to Speak
Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right. It’s not a privilege handed out like palliatives, and it doesn’t expire when a president’s son gets offended. Amnesty International called the ban “a clear violation” of the right to speak and be heard. Yet, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) quickly slammed the song with the label Not To Be Broadcast. For what? For highlighting the economic hardship? For challenging a narrative? For reminding us that 24 years after Nigeria Jaga Jaga, things are still falling apart?
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Who’s Really Being Attacked Here?
Seyi Tinubu proudly claimed his father is the best president. That’s his right. But when Abdulkareem responds with a song asking him to tell his dad to give Nigerians electricity, jobs, security, and a functioning economy, that’s suddenly a problem? The artist made it clear that he didn’t attack Seyi personally. “I was inspired by him,” he said. “If he hadn’t spoken, I wouldn’t have recorded that song.” It’s called a response, not an attack.
From Jagajaga to Tell Your Papa: The Same Nigeria
Eedris Abdulkareem’s Nigeria Jagajaga was banned under Obasanjo. Now Tell Your Papa is banned under Tinubu. The same silence they tried to force 24 years ago is being enforced today. But guess what? That old song is still relevant. Why? Because the problems it pointed out haven’t changed. Abdulkareem is not the problem, our leaders are.
Silencing Artists Won’t Silence the People
When governments begin to fear songs, poems, and art, it’s not the art that’s dangerous, it’s the truth it tells. Abdulkareem said Seyi Tinubu should travel by road without security if he wants to understand how Nigerians are suffering. That’s not disrespect. That’s a challenge to empathy. And instead of debating the message, the government banned the medium.
Even Soyinka Is Speaking Up
Nobel Laureate Prof Wole Soyinka has called the ban a threat to free speech and a return to censorship. When respected intellectuals start ringing alarm bells, maybe it’s time to listen. Censoring truth only breeds more resistance, not obedience.
You Can Ban the Song, Not the Struggle
Banning Tell Your Papa won’t fix the economy. It won’t create jobs. It won’t feed the hungry. And it certainly won’t change the minds of Nigerians who wake up daily to bad roads, insecurity, and hunger. The song is a mirror. If you’re angry at it, maybe it is because of what it reflects.
In a democracy, criticism is not rebellion. It’s participation. And if asking a leader to do better is now considered criminal, then the real danger is not in music, it’s in silence.
