Jaye Lo: Davido’s video didn’t lynch Deborah over blasphemy — Soyinka

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has weighed in on the request by some Muslims that the popular Afrobeat artist, David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, apologise over an alleged offensive video clip posted on his social media pages last week, describing it misplaced priority.

Recall that the DMW owner had posted a 45-second long video clip of his signee, Logos Olori’s new song, ‘Jaye Lo,’ on Friday, July 21, promoting the song ahead of the official release. The video caused controversy as it portrayed men dressed as praying mallams, dancing in front of a mosque in a scene, rather than engaging in prayer.

Tribune Online reports that the ‘Fem’ crooner, after coming under heavy criticism, bowed to pressure and deleted the video on Monday.

While weighing in with his view on the controversy, Soyinka in a letter released Tuesday and titled “Davido Video,” said focusing on Davido’s video at the expense of other important pressing issues is nothing but a misplaced priority.

According to him, the lynching of Deborah Samuel Yakubu, a student at Shehu Shagari College of Education by her peers in Sokoto over alleged blasphemy and the mistreatment and imprisonment of atheists like Mubarak Bala, are incidents that should provoke the anger of every member of society.

He said, “It was not Davido’s music that lynched Deborah Yakubu and continues to frustrate the cause of justice. Nor has it contributed to the arbitrary detention of religious dissenters – call them atheists or whatever – such as Mubarak Bala, now languishing in prison for his 38th month. These are the provocations where every citizen should exercise the capacity for revulsion. 

“They are the issues deserving of, indeed exercise primary claim on a nation’s capacity for righteous indignation. All else is secondary. Distractive piffle!”

The professor, however, enjoined the ‘Fem’ crooner not to offer an apology insisting that dancing in front of mosque is not provocative adding that it is an “affirmation of the unified sensibility of the spiritual in human.”

“No apology is required, None should be offered. Let us stop battening down our heads in the mush of contrived contrition – we know where contrition, apology, and restitution remain clamorous in the cause of closure and above all – justice.”