“He owes no apology to Muslims”-Wole Soyinka defends Davido against massive backlash
Superstar Davido has been in the headlines since the release of his controversial video, “Jaye Lo”, which Muslims claim is disrespecting Islamic beliefs and practices.
Professor Wole Soyinka has now come to the defense of the superstar singer, amid heavy backlash from Muslims.
Soyinka dropped his two cents in response to the viral video of some aggrieved youths who took to the streets of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, to demonstrate their grievances against the music video Davido promoted, which they deemed disrespectful to their religion.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Soyinka gave reasons why Davido shouldn’t apologize to them.
He cited how the former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El Rufai had made derogatory comments against Christians in the past but was never asked 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”.
The literary icon also cited scenes from Whoopi Goldberg’s SISTER ACT, as well as noted how it wasn’t Davido’s music that lynched Deborah Yakubu, a second-year Christian college student who was killed by a mob of Muslim students in Sokoto last year over alleged blasphemy.
Soyinka advised Nigerians to learn to distinguish practitioners from their objects of devotion.
This comes after Davido’s logistics manager, Isreal DMW, issued a heartfelt apology to the Muslim community on behalf of his boss.
He wrote:
“Let me specially apologise to my Muslims brothers and sisters, on the video my oga posted, as a result of him wanting to lift up somebody, which is one of his hubbies.
“It was purely an entertainment effort wrongly presented. Make una no vex. Love you all.”