Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has come forward to defend award-winning singer, Davido, who is facing heavy backlash from the Muslim community.
KanyiDaily recalls that Davido has faced widespread criticism from Muslims after he took to his Twitter page and shared a music video for a song titled “Jaye Lo” by his signee, Logos Olori.
Some Muslim youths took to the streets of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, to demonstrate their grievances against the music video which they deemed disrespectful to their religion.
Reacting in a statement on Tuesday, Wole Soyinka highlighted his reasons for advocating that Davido should not apologize to the offended Muslim faithfuls.
He recalled how former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El Rufai, had made derogatory comments about Christians in the past but was never compelled to apologize.
“There was nothing to apologize about, and that applied equally to El Rufai’s comments at the time. It should come as no surprise that I equally absolutely disagree with Shehu Sani, if indeed, as reported, he has demanded an apology from Davido ok behalf of the Muslim community” he noted.
To put things in perspective, Soyinks referred to scenes from Whoopi Goldberg’s movie, SISTER ACT, to underscore the importance of differentiating between practitioners and their objects of devotion.
He also pointed out that it was unjust to blame Davido’s music for the tragic incident involving Deborah Yakubu, a second-year Christian college student who lost her life to a mob of Muslim students in Sokoto last year over alleged blasphemy.
Soyinka concluded his statement by advising Nigerians to develop the ability to distinguish between the artists and their artistic creations.
Meanwhile, Davido’s manager, Isreal DMW has appologized on his behalf, stressing that the controversial video was intended purely for entertainment purposes and was mistakenly misinterpreted.