Blasphemy: Don’t apologize to Muslims, Soyinka tells Davido

Prof. Wole Soyinka, a literary giant, has advised artist Davido not to apologise for the contentious video he put on his social media accounts.

Davido received harsh criticism after posting a portion of the music video for his signee, Logos Olori’s new single, “Jaye Lo,” on Twitter, in which dancing and praying individuals are seen in front of a mosque.

After some prodding, the singer eventually cave in and removed the video, but steadfastly refused to apologise.

Some Muslims are still calling for Davido to publicly apologise despite the removal of the video.

Davido’s enormous banner was set on fire by a group of Muslim teenagers who recently marched on the streets of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, to express their disgust with the musician.

However, Soyinka said that Davido is not required to apologise to Muslims in a statement made public on Tuesday.

According to the Nobel laureate, Nasir El Rufai, a former governor of Kaduna State, made disparaging remarks towards Christians in the past but was never required to apologise.

“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 on behalf of the Moslem community,” statement by Mr Soyinka read.

 

 

Soyinka said that Deborah Yakubu, a second-year Christian college student who was slain by a mob of Muslim students in Sokoto last year over suspected blasphemy, was not lynched because of Davido’s songs.