Veteran rapper Eedris Abdulkareem has revealed that he was offered a bribe to continue criticising the current government, but he turned it down.
In a video shared on social media on Friday, Abdulkareem alleged that an individual, claiming to be a senator, offered him N200 million as support for his viral song, Tell Your Papa, and activism.
He said, “So I got a call from one criminal who claimed to be a honourable; he didn’t even allow me to hear his name. After claiming to be a hounarable, at the end of the call when I asked him what his name was, he claimed to be a senator.
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“He told me that he was in a meeting yesterday with Seyi (a son to President Bola Tinubu), and some government officials. He said, ‘They are going to call you and bribe you, don’t listen to them, we are going to be sponsoring you underground’. I then asked him, ‘who told you that I need anything’?”
Continuing, he said, “Immediately I heard his voice, I knew he was sent by them. So, I told him I was not interested . He said, ‘We will give you N200m, don’t even listen to them’. So, I asked him, the video I shot, was it you who sponsored me underground?’ You guys should go and rest somewhere, I am not interested. Thieves, may God punish all of you. It’s me that you guys want to record for caricature; you people are insane. I have prepared for you people a long time ago.”
The song, which had been gaining attention on social media, was banned by the National Broadcasting Commission on Thursday, April 10.
However, the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria criticised the ban, suggesting that it was likely to have the opposite effect, “as it only serves to amplify the song’s reach and relevance in light of the current socio-economic challenges facing Nigerians.”
Similarly, the Media Rights Agenda condemned the ban, calling it a “blatant abuse of regulatory power.”
A statement released in Lagos by its Programme Officer, Ayomide Eweje, argued that the NBC had “completely confused its role as a supposedly independent media regulatory body with that of a propaganda agency charged with shielding the government from criticism or embarrassment”.
