DON’T APOLOGISE; WOLE SOYINKA DRUMS SUPPORT FOR DAVIDO
Photo credit: The Guardian
Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has expressed his support for popular Afrobeat artist, David Adeleke, also known as Davido, amid calls from some Muslims for an apology over an alleged offensive video clip shared on his social media pages last week.
The video in question featured men dressed as praying mallams dancing in front of a mosque as part of the promotion for Logos Olori’s new song, ‘Jaye Lo.’ This sparked controversy, with some Muslims demanding an apology from Davido.
In a letter titled “Davido Video” released on Tuesday, Soyinka dismissed the notion that dancing in front of a mosque is a provocative act. Instead, he views it as an “affirmation of the unified sensibility of the spiritual in human.”
Soyinka does acknowledge that he has not personally seen the video clip but firmly supports the artist’s right to use dance in a religious setting, considering it a fundamental freedom for all artists. He argues that dancing around a religious space is a universal heritage and, in the case of Islam, a plot of land can become a sacral space for worship.
Regarding the calls for an apology, Soyinka disagrees with Senator Sheu Sani and other aggrieved Muslims, stating that no apology is required, and none should be offered. He advises against resorting to contrived contrition and encourages society to focus on pursuing justice instead.
Soyinka also points out that Davido’s music is not responsible for the injustices and incidents of violence related to religious dissent in society. He highlights the lynching of Deborah Samuel Yakubu and the imprisonment of atheists like Mubarak Bala as real issues that should provoke collective anger and action.
Tinubu meets ousted APC chairman, secretary
Photo credit: The Guardian
President Bola Tinubu, yesterday, met with the immediate past National Chairman and Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Adamu and Iyiola Omisore at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Both Adamu and Omisore, reportedly, resigned their positions early last week, ahead of scheduled National Caucus and National Executive Council (NEC) meetings, supposed to have been held on Monday, July 18 and Tuesday, July 19, respectively.
President Tinubu, who is leader of the party, is granted a lot of leverage and influence within the ranks of the APC and is expected to determine a lot about the emergence of new party leaders.
The reason for the visit could not be officially confirmed, but it is believed to be connected with efforts to thaw crisis surrounding the party’s leadership.
When rumours about resignation of the duo emerged, Adamu reportedly said he was not going to make any comments until Tinubu, who was away in Nairobi, Kenya, returned to the country.
Although Adamu and Omisore have not openly announced their resignation, since it became news, the Acting National Chairman, who was Deputy National Chairman (North), Abubakar Kyari, while speaking to journalists after a meeting of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) in Abuja, said both leaders had resigned.
Only 24.9 million Nigerians voted in 2023 elections — NOA
Photo credit: Nigerian Tribune
Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr Garba Abari has disclosed that out of the total number of 93.47 million registered voters, only 24.9 million people actually voted during the 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections.
He disclosed this on Wednesday at the flagging off of the agency’s off-season governorship polls sensitization campaign on understanding the new electoral act, civic participation and peace held in Lokoja, Kogi state.
According to him, this represents a meagre 26.72 percent voter turnout, actually the lowest percentage since the return to democracy in 1999.His words, “Some have even said the turnout is the worst since Nigeria’s Independence. In 36 states, less than half of the eligible population turned out to vote, and no state had a turnout above 40 per cent.
“In the three largest states based on voter registration — Lagos, Kano and Rivers — less than a third of the eligible population voted. Rivers turnout was a poor 15.6 per cent, the lowest in the country, despite producing a lot more votes in past elections. Overall, voter apathy is a major challenge in Nigeria’s democracy
“There is a worrying trend of public disinterest in or indifference towards the electoral and democratic processes. In 1999, turnout was 52.3 per cent. Officially, it grew to 69 per cent in 2003; and it has fallen since then, first to 57.5 per cent in 2007; then to 53.7 per cent in 2011; before dropping to 43.7 per cent in 2015.
“We are hoping that INEC and other stakeholders will consider our request to partner with NOA to undertake a special study on the causes of poor voter turnout during elections in Nigeria.
CAC Boss assures commitment to fight corruption via BOR platform
Photo credit: Nigerian Tribune
Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Alhaji Garba Abubakar, has restated his office’s commitment to promote transparency and fight corruption in Nigeria through introduction of the Beneficial Ownership Register (BOR).
Abubakar, who spoke at a training workshop on the use of the Beneficial Ownership Register (BOR), said that the platform would be beneficial in strengthening the government’s fight against corruption and ensuring transparency in the system.
He explained that the platform launched in May this year was to make it easy to search for information on persons with significant control (PSC).The portal as an automated platform is where records of PSC collated by CAC are stored and accessible both to the general public and for government use.
“This platform offers a search function and information on persons with significant control (PSC) in accordance with the international standard of beneficiary ownership data standards (BODS) under the guidance of the World Bank.
“It also provides an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) gateway for data exchange in accordance with BODS in the required format.
“The BOR Portal will enable users to find the Person with Significant Control (PSC) of any entity when a search is initiated with either of the following parameters: entity’s name, entity’s number, PSC first name, and PSC surname.
CAC boss further said the platform will provide a simple, precise, and user-friendly environment for the search and provision of information on persons with significant control (PSC).
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