Veteran rapper, Eedris Abdulkareem, has claimed that he was offered bribe to keep attacking the current government, which he rejected.
Speaking in a video posted on social media, Abdulkareem alleged that a person, claiming to be a senator, offered him N200m as a form of 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.
“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 new song, which had been making waves on social media, was banned by the National Broadcasting Commission on Thursday, April 10.
However, the ban was faulted by the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria, which stated that the ban was likely to backfire, “as it only serves to amplify the song’s reach and relevance in light of the current socio-economic challenges facing Nigerians.”
In a similar vein, the Media Rights Agenda also condemned the ban, describing it as a “blatant abuse of regulatory power”.
A statement issued in Lagos by its Programme Officer, Ayomide Eweje, stated 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”.
