Renowned playwright and Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has condemned the recent ban imposed by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) on a politically motivated song by popular Nigerian hip-hop artist, Eedris Abdulkareem.
The song, titled Tell Your Papa, criticises the administration of President Bola Tinubu and was particularly targeted at his son, Seyi Tinubu, over comments declaring his father Nigeria’s greatest leader.
The NBC cited the “objectionable nature” of the song as why it was prohibited from radio and television broadcasts. Meanwhile, Soyinka, in a recent sharply worded statement released from New York University, Abu Dhabi, labeled the move as a disturbing return to authoritarian censorship and an affront to freedom of expression.
He said: “In banning this song, we are witnessing a relapse into familiar patterns—suppressing dissent through the silencing of artistic voices. This act echoes the repeated attempts in Nigeria’s history to stifle socio-political commentary under the guise of national interest.”
Soyinka said the NBC’s actions reflect a wider climate of intolerance for criticism under the current administration. “Any government that only tolerates praise-singers and dancers to the official beat has already begun its descent into the abyss,” he added.
He admitted he had not listened to the song and emphasized that the principle at stake transcends the content of Abdulkareem’s lyrics.
He said: “It is not only the record that should be banned—why not go further and proscribe the artist himself, or dissolve the musicians’ union he belongs to?”
Also, he commended a satirical cartoonist, Ebun Aleshinloye, whose illustration criticized the ban. “It is thanks to that cartoon that I even learned of the song’s existence. The irony is: this ban has likely boosted Abdulkareem’s popularity—and his income,” he added, calling attention to the unintended consequence of censorship acting as free publicity.
His statement went beyond the confines of music and censorship and weighed in on Nigeria’s recurring tragedies connected to mob violence. He talked about the recent killings in Edo State, where at least 19 people were lynched by a mob, and described the events as a national stain and a painful reminder of the deepening culture of lawlessness.
He talked about the 2022 murder of Deborah Samuel, a student lynched in Sokoto over alleged blasphemy and said: “Her killers were not only unpunished—they celebrated themselves online with impunity. And that is the real horror, not the numbers, but the audacity.”
Soyinka said such atrocities are signs of a justice system in decay and a society where impunity thrives.
He said: “As long as these acts go unpunished, we invite a return to brutish existence and make violence our national identity.”
