“Nigerians no longer believe in
themselves; neither do they
believe in their country. That
takes me back to that song ‘jaga
jaga’. How could a sane man
dare to call his country jaga jaga?
It is the height of blasphemy. We
are grooming our youths for
tomorrow’s leadership and with
such persons, I don’t think the
country can move forward.”
About 10 years after ebullient
rapper, Eedris Abdukareem,
released a song titled Nigeria
Jaga jaga, former President
Olusegun Obasanjo is still angry
with him.
While many people may largely
agree with the singer that the
country is truly upside down
based on the state of things,
Obasanjo has again described
the song as being blasphemous.
According to him producing
such a song shows that the
artiste does not believe in the
future of Nigeria.
The former president made the
remarks in Lagos on Tuesday
while speaking at a forum
organised by the Nigeria
Leadership Initiative. Obasanjo
said his passion is to see the
country excel.
Expressing his disdain for the
attitude of some Nigerians
youths, he said one of the worst
problems Nigeria is facing is
disbelief.
The former president has never
hesitated to express his
displeasure at Abdulkareem for
deriding Nigeria. The hit track of
the album released on Kennis
Music label was banned from
radio airplay by the president in
a televised address, although it
enjoyed continued play in
nightclubs.
Abdulkareem had also hit back at
Obasanjo in January during the
fuel subsidy protest. He said,
“The man wey say i dey craze
because I sing Nigeria Jaga Jaga
where him dey now inside this
hardship? Na 2002 I sing Nigeria
Jaga Jaga, na 2012 we dey so o.”
It would be recalled that
Obasanjo had hit back at the
artiste when the album was
freshly released, with some
people quoting him as saying it
was the singer’s father’s house
that was jagajaga.
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