“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,” says Soyinka, highlighting censorship’s counterproductive nature.
Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka has condemned the Nigerian government’s ban on a song by musician Eedris Abdulkareem, labeling it a regression into censorship and a threat to free expression. In a statement issued from New York University, Abu Dhabi, Soyinka criticized the move as reminiscent of past attempts to silence critical voices in Nigeria.
“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 wrote in the piece posted on PM News.
Though admitting he had not heard the banned track, Soyinka emphasized that the issue transcends its content, touching on fundamental democratic rights. “It cannot be flouted. That, surely, is basic,” he stated. He ironically suggested the ban did not go far enough, quipping, “It is not only the allegedly offensive record that should be banned – the musician himself should be proscribed.”
Soyinka also noted the unintended consequence of censorship: increased publicity for the artist. “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.
