Davido and Nigeria’s Puritans – By Sam Nwaoko
Nigeria will never cease to unfurl in its colourful complexities. The country amazes just as it also amuses, all in equal measures. These came to play again in a perfunctory way when news broke on Friday about Davido’s announcement of his new Rolls Royce car in addition to the Tesla vehicle he bought while in the United States of America recently. Quite a reasonable number of soft news outlets reported that the pop star, Davido, had announced the shipment of his new Rolls Royce Spectre and the Tesla Cybertruck, into Nigeria. This was not such a throbbing piece of news, but somehow it succeeded in leading my thoughts away from the haunting sadness caused by the unfortunate fire at the Broadcasting House, Ikoyi, Lagos, on Wednesday.
The Broadcasting House, Ikoyi, Lagos was – and still is the Family House of everyone and everything within the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and its Radio Nigeria. The Broadcasting House is a family house that is large in every sense of the word, and has endured Nigeria while still giving Nigeria the best of its life. Nearly every broadcast journalist (or more commonly referred to as broadcasters) who is worthy of that appellation has something about Radio Nigeria in them. Radio Nigeria is the bedrock of public broadcasting in Nigeria and when you listen to great Nigerian broadcasters gush about their Broadcasting House experiences, then it would be better understood what a monumental tragedy that fire at the Broadcasting House, Ikoyi is.
However, while I thought about how unreasonable it is to lose such a national treasure like the Broadcasting House to a preventable fire; and why it is unimaginable because of the rich and juicy history, I was jolted back to reality. It has happened. A large part of it has already been burnt. The authorities would soon be commiserating with the Director-General of FRCN and the other immediate victims, and all of us. Then they would assuage us with the usual announcement that they would set up “a panel to unravel the immediate and remote causes of the incident with a view to preventing future occurrence.” Then we would move on to the next issue or issues and forget everything about the fire at the Broadcasting House, Ikoyi, Lagos.
And I think we have already begun to move on. Soon, we would have moved so far from it that both the fire incident and the panel created to look into it would recede into a distant place in our thoughts. They would both have been flung behind like the masquerader does his outer garments.
Or, why would an entertainer shipping his luxury and flamboyant cars into the country be the news so much more than the tragedy of losing a national monument to avoidable inferno? And the same man who bought and ferried in these very expensive cars, is still dripping with all manner of diatribe.
David Adedeji Adeleke or Davido was roasting in a blitz of criticism – a lot of them very bitter retorts – only a few days ago. Of a fact, he is still being pelted with foul words and is still facing verbal abuse for saying that Nigeria’s economy was in shambles. A lot of the attacks on him were because of his status as an ambassador for the country, and also because of where he made his remarks. The backlash was massive and was becoming worrisome.
However, Davido emerged from it all like the proverbial “anu a na-agba egbe ya a na-ata nri” – the game which continues its grazing with scarce regard for the shooting by the hunter. Fuji music legend, Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister also came alive here. Barry Wonder repeatedly referred to himself as “àkìtàn” (dump site) which does not discriminate or choose among types of refuse. In that light, Davido, in yet another response to all the negative criticism, posted on his social media platforms that he was going for an interview. He accompanied the announcement with a photo of him wearing a bandana with the Nigerian colours, and was also wearing a big smile.
But, what was that thing Davido said that had not been said by thousands (if not millions) of other Nigerians? His appearance on The Big Homies House podcast might have gone unnoticed only that he said things everyone else feels and talks about regarding the economic situation of Nigeria. His advice that black Americans should not relocate to Nigeria because of poor leadership, declining and unstable exchange rate and high cost of fuel is apt. These are the same major concerns expressed every other market day by manufacturers and sundry business owners in the country. Who has not complained about the cost of petrol and food inflation in Nigeria? Why did you and Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu charge us to create gardens and plant food around our homes and at other empty pieces of land? When Davido said: “It is not cool back home. The economy is in shambles,” is he telling a lie? Our friends and relatives living overseas all know these because they hear everything.
“Now the exchange rate is messed up, a lot of stuffs are not going well. The economy is just not good enough. The oil price is too high. Imagine the country that produces oil, paying more for it than a country importing oil.” That Davido said this and got into trouble with a lot of Nigerians still beats me. It is not like he is a bed-wetter who has lost the privilege to negotiate price with a washman. He has his bully pulpit just like every other Nigerian who feels the economic adversity. Those lambasting him might need to think back a few years of their puritanical posturing about Nigeria and its socio-economic life.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu himself acknowledged that there is hunger in the land while in Brazil recently. He told JBS S.A. of Brazil when he signed their letter of intent that “food security is extremely important. As we talk right now, there is hunger. However, there is huge hope.” Those calling Davido names and denigrating his family and their attainments in politics and business are not calling him out on the grounds that he didn’t sound like there is hope, as done by President Tinubu. What if he doesn’t see any hope? It is not right to shut dissenting opinions, neither is it right to discredit the truth because it is convenient.
It is a pity that people, some of whom should run to hide behind their community dumpster, are the ones shouting themselves hoarse because Davido spoke to issues everyone is aware of. Interestingly, it is for these same people that Davido has spoken because he can afford to float comfortably in the same economy. Davido and his family can afford petrol even if it rises to N2000 per litre. Majority of others cannot; and we know this just as the man himself knows. That is one of the reasons why he spoke up. The N70,000 minimum wage, which has become one of the prime achievements of the Tinubu government, is still ‘in the pipeline’. It is still flowing languorously from the proverbial pipeline since July when it became law in the country. Davido and his family are not looking forward to earning N70k to be able to. And so on and so forth…
Those for whom Davido raised his voice are the same people who have been triggered to attack him and renounce his advocacy. It is good he has not been drowned by the hostile response to his comments.
Nigerians can easily turn against those influential enough to speak up for them depending on what is momentarily important to them. Thereafter they go back to their lack and dark ignorance. That is one of the points of the country’s colourful complexities.
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