A Re-awakening Call to Yoruba to Protect Their Own
By Lekan Shobo Shobowale
Eedris Turayo Abdulkareem Ajenifuja was born on 24 December 1974. He is popularly known as Eedris Abdulkareem. He is a Nigerian singer and rapper.
He was the lead rapper of the defunct Nigerian hip hop boy band The Remedies.
He is one of the pioneers of Nigerian hip hop, and he is regarded as one of the most influential Nigerian rappers of all time.
He was born in a polygamous family in Kano, Nigeria. His father was from Ilesha in Osun State, and his mother was from Ogun State, all in the south western part of Nigeria, but he adopted Kano State as his state of origin.
He lost his father at the age of two and eight of his elder siblings as time went by.
Legendary rapper, Eedris Abdulkareem few years ago underwent a kidney transplant, and on his return was a guest on The Honest Brunch podcast, where he went down a timeline of his career, and events leading to his current state.
For anyone who has followed his career over the years, every Eedris interview has been one to avoid. It has been one public display of a slow fall from grace. A musical legend created when he sings/raps, now constantly spiralling every time he speaks, as he self-righteously positions himself as the main character while embellishing happenings and making everyone else the victim.
The responses the interviews generated a few days were indeed inevitable.
The interview then saw his former group members, Eddy Remedy crying on an IG live and Tony Tetuila ranting while telling his side of events, with Rudeboy of P Square calling him ‘frustrated’ and Burna Boy making fun of him.
At age 14, he started playing table tennis for Kano State, and at age 16, he was a national player representing the country at a continental event.
In 2014, in an interview with Prime News Metro, Eedris Abdulkareem said he has invested millions of naira he earned from music in a large-scale agro-business in Kano, North-west, Nigeria.
The music star disclosed that he now spends most of his free time managing his farmland, where he cultivates maize and other crops for export, and the business has been high yielding for him.
“I am a farmer now. Since 2001, I have been fully engaged in agricultural activities and have investments in metals. I have vast land where I cultivate maize and other fruits for export in Kano,”
According to the musician, he spends more time in the North where his farm is based, as well as abroad, where he gets his crops sold to those who need them.
“I have not really revealed this aspect of my life so as not to be distracted. People only see you as a musician and believe that is all you live on. They think my entire life revolves around music. They do not believe one could have other ideas that are sustainable. I am a Northerner. I grew up among people who encouraged me to invest money that I had made through music. They believe things may not always remain the same, and I heeded their advice. That is why I invested in hectares of land in the North for the agro-business,” he added.
In 2004, Eedris released an album Nigeria Jaga Jaga. The soundtrack is a bold and provocative anthem that critiques the socio-political state of Nigeria under the then President Olusegun Obasanjo, a southerner. Eedris’s 2004 album “Jaga Jaga” became a cultural phenomenon, criticizing corruption and poor governance in Nigeria. The title track was then also banned from the radio.
In that song, Abdulkareem sang “Nigeria jaga jaga, everything scatter scatter, poor man dey suffer suffer, Gbosa, gbosa…”
The song annoyed Obasanjo, and he cursed Abdulkareem. The former president banned the song from the radio, but it continued to be played in nightclubs.
Years later, in 2012, Obasanjo never forgave Abdulkareem as he attacked him again for releasing that song years back.
Speaking at an event organized by Nigeria Leadership Initiative (NLI) in 2012, Obasanjo attacked Abdulkareem again, condemning the song in the strongest term.
The former president said “one of the worst problems Nigeria is facing is disbelief. Nigerians no longer believe in themselves , nor do they believe in their country.
“That takes me back to that song ‘jaga jaga’. How could a sane man dare to call his country jaja jaja? It is the height of blasphemy.
“We are grooming our youths for tomorrow’s leadership, and with such persons, I don’t think the country can move forward.”
Abdulkareem, in a new song, ‘Letter to Obasanjo,’ in 2018 attacked the former Army general.
He said Obasanjo served as a military president and also a civilian president and that he had the opportunity to correct the wrongs.
“He was selfish and wanted third term by all means. His administration recorded too many killings and assassinations. He’s very selfish and wanted to rule Nigeria forever,” he had said.
Nothing much was heard of Abdulkareem until he attacked Keyamo in his new song ‘Jaga Jaga’, reloaded.’
Abdulkareem’s new song, ‘jagajaga reloaded’ disparaged Keyamo, saying “where Festus Keyamo sef? He don dey chop with cabal o.”
An angry Keyamo took to his Twitter handle and released different private conversations he had with Abdulkareem, how he allegedly begged for money.
Now, the same Abdulkareem has come up with another song for President Tinubu, another southerner, just two years into his government, after keeping quiet for eight years of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
From the above, it is clear that Eedris is a Northerner, and he preferred that to being a Southerner, course, he will always do everything in his capacity to promote the region.
Second, Eedris has its farmlands in Kano State, and for that reason, he dare not attack the region, or else all that he laboured for will be destroyed by herdsmen in a few hours.
Third, Eedris has never hidden his hatred for the South even though he has the majority of the fan base here in the Southwest.
Fourth, even he’s of Osun state origin. He never claimed that and holds no affinity with the state, so he chose Kano over Osun state.
Throughout the eight years of his co-northerner, Eedris never saw anything wrong in Mohammadu Buhari’s eight years government as clueless as the government was then.
One can then come to a conclusion that Eedris Abdulkareem is not genuine, is the opposite of what he’s calling himself, and that he’s only making an effort to blackmail and pull down this government because of his affinity and relationship with the north.
Unfortunately, many youths and adults nowadays hardly think deeply before accepting most of these junks. Maybe because of the true situations of the country, they should also not throw away the bath water with the baby.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a Yorubaman and he needs all the support of all of us to succeed not minding intrigues, coalitions and the noises by people whose their only motive is to get to power by all means.
Yoruba Ronu, ooo
Written by Lekan Shobo Shobowale
President, Ogun State Solidarity Movement (OSM)