Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has strongly condemned the recent ban placed on a song by Nigerian musician Eedris Abdulkareem, describing it as a dangerous slide back into the culture of censorship and an infringement on the fundamental right to free expression.
In a powerful statement issued from New York University, Abu Dhabi, on Sunday, Soyinka criticised the decision and its broader implications for democratic freedoms in Nigeria. He said the ban evoked memories of past authoritarian attempts to suppress artistic and socio-political commentary.
“Courtesy of an artist operating in a different genre – the cartoon – who sent me his recent graphic comment on the event, I learnt recently of a return to the culture of censorship with the banning of the product of a music artist, Eedris Abdulkareem,” Soyinka said in the statement published by PM News.
Employing his trademark irony, Soyinka mockingly suggested that the ban didn’t go far enough. “It is not only the allegedly offensive record that should be banned – the musician himself should be proscribed. Next, PMAN, or whatever musical association of which Abdulkareem is member, should also go under the hammer.”
Although he admitted to not having listened to the banned song, Soyinka stressed that the matter transcends the specific content and cuts to the heart of a democratic principle that must be defended without compromise.
“It cannot be flouted. That, surely, is basic,” he stated. “This is why I feel that we should look on the bright side of any picture and thus recommend the Aleshinloye cartoon – and others in allied vein – as an easy-to-apprehend, easy-to-digest summation of the wisdom of attempting to stifle unpalatable works of art or socio-political commentary.”
Soyinka also pointed out the irony that censorship often backfires, serving instead to amplify the artist’s visibility and popularity.
“The ban is a boost to the artist’s nest egg, thanks to free governmental promotion. Mr. Abdulkareem must be currently warbling his merry way all the way to the bank. I envy him,” he remarked.
Warning of the broader consequences of such actions, the revered playwright and activist described censorship as “boring, time-wasting, diversionary,” but most crucially, “subversive of all seizures of the fundamental right of free expression.”
He cautioned that stifling dissent fosters a climate where state authorities may feel emboldened to suppress opposing voices under the guise of regulation.
The statement also addressed growing concerns over mob violence and impunity in Nigeria. Soyinka mourned the recent lynching of 19 youths in Edo State, calling it a tragic consequence of societal breakdown and a justice system failing to hold perpetrators accountable.
“My heart goes out to friends, colleagues and families of victims and traumatised survivors of this senseless slaughter. Our thirst for justice must remain unslaked,” he said.
He drew a chilling parallel with the 2022 killing of Deborah Samuel in Sokoto, noting how the culprits were never brought to justice. “Identified killers were set free to gloat, and paste their photos on the Social Media… in full daylight glare, in the presence of both citizen voyeurs and security forces,” he lamented.
Soyinka ended his statement with a strong appeal for the regulatory body involved to reverse the ban, which he termed an act of “petulant irrationality.” He warned that any government that only tolerates praise-singers “has already commenced a downhill slide into the abyss.”
His remarks have since reignited public discourse on freedom of expression, censorship, and accountability in Nigeria’s democratic space.