Why Davido should not apologise to Muslims – Soyinka
Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has backed music superstar Davido in the controversy trailing a music video some Muslims have found offensive.
TheCornet reports that Davido had posted the video of the song, titled Jaiye Lo, produced by his signee, Olamilekan Taiwo (a.k.a Logos Olori).
No sooner did he do that than outraged Muslim faithful asked he take it down and equally offer them an apology. The critics, especially Muslims from Nigeria’s conservative northern region, faulted the mimicry of Muslim act of worship in the video.
Weighing on the issue, Soyinka called the backlash against the video as “a galloping fever of over-sensitivity over frankly trivial aspects of social co-existence.”
He said, “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. Such apologies have not been forthcoming.”
The literary icon equally recalled his intervention in the controversy generated by a comment by former governor of Kaduna state Nasir found derogatory to Jesus and the Christian faith. He equally recalled the situation involving “a bank manager who, at Easter tide, referred to the risen Christ as a metaphor for the risen dough in the bakeries of Oshodi.”
“There was nothing to apologise about, and that applied equally to El Rufai’s comments at the time,” Soyinka said. The Noble laureate said he would rather Nigerians focused on “the issues deserving of, indeed exercising primary claim on a nation’s capacity for righteous indignation. All else is secondary. Distractive piffle!”
