18-4-2025.

‘Seyin tell you papa’ is a song sung by Eadris Addulkareem, alias Nigeria Jaga jag  (a song he sung during the tenure of Olusegun Obasanjo, (Nigeria’s first President in the present Fourth Republic). The then president did not find the song funny, he therefore, being an area pada (apology to Charlie Boy) of sorts, pointedly retorted to the singer that his ‘papa is jaga jaga’.

Well, then as now, Eadris Abdulkareem sung his song at a time of telling hardship in the country, which is more severe now, courtesy of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s many ill advised economic policies, whose only results have been the overwhelming poverty and hunger wrecking havoc in all corners and crannies of Nigeria. The sought for relief is not there at all, only untold hardship in the land.

Anyway, for the truth in the lyrics of the song, an unsuccessful attempt to bribe the musician into wiping out the song was made by a Federal Lawmaker in the country. According to Eadris Abdulkareem, a lawyer gave him N200 million and asked him to cancel the song, which he said he rejected and refused to do what was wanted of him. He said his song stated exactly what majority of the citizens of Nigeria was going through in Tinubu’s regime.

In the video, in which Eadris Abdulkareem spoke in an excellent Hausa language, he said the song was not about himself alone, but about all Nigerians who were going through the pervasive poverty and hunger in the country, and the two evils have no respect for ethnic and religious boundaries.

In another video clip, a young lady claimed that the song had been banned by the Broadcasting Corporation of Nigeria (BCN), adding that the panic measure taken by the country’s official broadcaster is a futile effort since many Nigerians have the song in their heads.

Whatever the situation of the song, my advice to Eadris Abdulkareem is that he should sing another song asking Seyin to ‘tell his mama’, since it appears that his papa has made his choice, which is to continue visiting the hardship on the country for the time being.

Not Seyi’s adopted mama though, who is the current First Lady, Senator Remi Tinubu, but his biological mama, the 60 plus year old Bunmi Oshonokaime, who like the First Lady, is a Pastor, and a prophetess to boot. The former Nigerian Airline air hostess was never ever married to Seyin’s father, anyway.

But even her, it is debatable whether she would advise the over pampered First Son to abandon his papa and his own personal 2027 political ambitions, simply because the country is going through a period of extreme hardship at the moment. He uses one of the presidential jets to travel all over the country with billions of the taxpayers naira, distributing take away packaged rice to some hungry people in the Northern region, and N50,000 to N500,000 seed money to some traders in Southern Nigeria.

A fearless officer in the Nigerian military, told the First Son (Seyi) that he should not rely on his “farther’s mandate”, saying that the  president mandate is what has brought the country into the situation it is now. Rather, the First Son should make his own distinctive agenda that will chart a better cause for him, than following his father’s disappointed policy.

A Yoruba (he declared so with pride) officer, he claimed that Seyin was going about his politics in the wrong manner by trying to run under the influence of his father, who is the president of the country a fact that many citizens would rather forget about quickly.

Tinubu’s number two when he was Governor of Lagos State, Senator Kofo Bucknor-Akerele, reffered to the President as “Emperor Tinubu”, who is a “dictator on the way”.

According to her, she worked with him not as his Deputy, but as someone to be tolerated because of her political value, which he needed to enable him continue to navigate the rough politics of the state. She claimed that her experience with him was something she would not want to go through again.

Yours sincerely has written an article on 24-12-2024, titled ‘Is Nigeria Under Civilian Democracy Or Under Civilian Dictatorship (State Capture)? Part of that article includes, “The president’s UNDEMOCRATIC credentials started manifesting publicly when he singlehandedly spent billions of naira in the purchase of a brand new official aircraft, a brand new yacht and a brand new Cadillac luxury sedan without so much as informing the NASS. And when the Villa was reminded that such purchases needed the approval of the NASS, the Chief of Staff, Right Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, disingenuously claimed that the president used his personal money to purchase the brand new rides.

“President Tinubu also singlehandedly awarded the controversial N15.6 trillion Lagos to Calabar Coastal Highway to the construction company belonging to his friend (front), the Paris (France) based Mr. Gilbert Chagoury, who was said to have purchased the rides that were earlier mentioned in this article.

“We are supposed to be operating a democracy where the wish of the majority is supposed to carry the day, and the will of the minority, the category to which President Tinubu belongs, are only supposed to have their say. But in Nigeria’s ‘upside’ democracy, the ‘WINNER’ takes all, and the majority can go to blazes with their majority.

“Especially NOW that Nigeria is under a STATE CAPTURE, in which all the apparatuses of COERCION are in the hands of the winner at the centre. And, unlike in more enlightened democracies, the heads of these apparatuses, appear content to meekly do as the president wants, no matter how brutal or illegal it may be, without arguing against its illegality.

“A serving Senator, who hails from the Eastern part of the country, complained that there was ‘a total state CAPTURE in the country at the moment’, because the president sometimes does as he wishes without so much as informing the NASS of his intention”.

Meanwhile, the  decision of the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) to call for removal of the death sentence on those who malign Prophet Mohammadu, whatever their religious beliefs may be, is a potential flashpoint that is going to devour its proponents, whoever they may be. The 15-member organisation, with seven as founding members, has the Nigerian President as its Chairman.

The decision to urge ECOWAS to withdraw passing of the death sentence on those who insult the last Prophet of Islam would fall in line with the desire of France and her President, Emmanuel Macron, whose notoriety for their negative position on Islam and Muslim is legendary.

In the Islamic faith, to be a sincere believer one must not tolerate any insult on the last Messenger of Allah, Prophet Muhammadu SallalLahu Alaihi Wa salam (SAW), and could therefore go to any lengths to execute the punishment prescribed by Islam on the offender. So insults on Prophet Muhammadu is not taken lightly by Muslims the world over. God has even vowed not to tolerate any insult on the Prophet by anybody, but would allow an insult on Himself. 

May God not make us the target of His anger in this and the next world. Some of the present crop of Nigeria’s leaders do not appear to care, though.

Malumfashi wrote from Katsina.