July 24, 2023

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has issued a seven-day ultimatum to a Nigerian singer, David Adeleke, a.k.a. Davido, to pull down his video which portrayed Islam in bad light or face spiritual or legal action or both.

MURIC founder and Executive Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, said this in a statement on Monday in Abuja.

“Logos Olori, an artist under David Adeleke, a.k.a. Davido, a Nigerian singer, recently released a music video with the caption, ‘Jaye Lo’. In the video, some people dressed in white jalabiyas like Muslims were seen praying the way Muslims do before launching into dancing as they recited some Quranic verses and prayed.

“Mats were spread for those praying behind an ‘Imam’ who used the popular single-prayer rug (sajadah). Those who were praying also read out what looked like Muslim recitations in Arabic language and prostrated the way Muslims do in prayer.

“Logos Olori himself was seen sitting on the roof of a mosque-like building mounted with a horn public address system thus creating the complete impression of a mosque scenario.

“There is no doubt that the scene in the music video is the setting of a Muslim prayer session but mixing it with singing and dancing is utterly wrong in concept and grossly misleading in content. In like manner, sitting on top of a ‘mosque’ or what looks like it with the type of loud speaker used on top of mosques is most primitive, extremely serpentine and categorically unacceptable,” Akintola said.

He added: “Thousands of Nigerian Muslims have expressed displeasure with the new music video and the Nigerian media have published their reactions.

“Our office in particular has been inundated with complaints against this luciferous music video. Nigerian Muslims find the juxtaposition of Muslims in prayer session with the same Muslims singing and dancing offensive, repugnant and provocative.

“Logos Olori’s musical video is insensitive to Muslim feelings while Davido himself added salt to the injury on the Muslim anatomy by promoting the video in his tweet. There is no iota of doubt that both men, Davido and his signee have no modicum of respect for the faith of Islam. They have provoked millions of Nigerian Muslims.

“We remind Nigerians of several religious riots in the past which were caused by provocative artworks. Those religious riots claimed hundreds of lives while properties worth billions of naira were destroyed by angry rioters.

What Davido and Logos Olori have done with this video is equivalent to seeking a repeat destruction of lives and properties in the country. All level-headed and right-thinking Nigerians, regardless of their religious affiliations, must condemn it.”

“We alert men of the Department of State Services to invite both men for questioning to explain why they chose to produce and promote a musical video capable of igniting anarchy in Nigeria.

“In the same vein, we invite the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) and the National Film And Video Censors Board (NFVCB) to immediately ban the insensitive musical video captioned ‘Jaye Lo’ by Logos Olori.

“MURIC objects to the lame excuse often given by Nigerian agencies charged with moderation responsibilities who claim that separate petitions should be addressed to them by complainants before they can take action. It does not work that way in saner climes. Nigerian agencies must be proactive.

“They must spring to action from the moment attention is drawn to an infraction capable of causing a breach of the peace so long as the authors of the infringement have been identified and whether or not the information contained an appeal to the monitoring agency or agencies. The agencies are, essentially, an integral part of the general public. They should therefore act without being prompted”.

“To expect separate petitions before taking action is to empower criminals, delay justice and encourage a culture of procrastination (which is the thief of time). We also believe that such agencies should be held accountable if trouble breaks out due to their lackadaisical attitude.

“We hereby give Davido and Logos Olori seven days ultimatum to pull down the music video or face spiritual or legal action or both. That video is a mockery of Muslim spiritual life and practice. We will therefore employ a spiritual weapon on those who attack our spiritual way of life.

“At this juncture, we call on Nigerian Muslims to start reciting Al-Qunut after seven days from today, Monday July 22 if the horrendously offensive video is not pulled down within seven days.

“Nonetheless. we appeal to Muslims throughout the country to remain calm and law abiding. No Muslim should attack Davido or Logos Olori. Gone are those days of spontaneous violent reactions. A social and mental re-engineering campaign has succeeded in changing that perspective”.

“For the avoidance of doubt and for the sake of microscopic clarity, we assert that we Muslims do not joke with our religion. Others may, but that is their cup of tea. It amounts to artistic fanaticism to erode on the freedom and happiness of others with any kind of artwork.

“It further proves our point that there is fanaticism in places other than religion. Extreme fanaticism exists in football and music. You are a fanatic once you love a football team or a music star to the extreme. On the other hand, a fanatical musician will manifest insensitivity to the faith of others. To this extent and from this perspective, Logos Olori’s ‘Jaye Lo’ is an exercise in musical extremism.

“MURIC will not stand akimbo while our religion is desecrated by those who lack respect for people’s faith. MURIC was instrumental to the banning of Falz ’‘This is Nigeria’ video and the shaku shaku drug dance in June 2018. Logos Olori’s ‘Jaye Lo’ will suffer the same fate.

“Nigerian artists must learn to leave Muslims alone with their ways of life. We will continue to employ every legitimate means to stop them in their attempt to ridicule our faith. There are more than enough themes under the sky for artists to pick”.