Nigeria’s democratic trajectory has been questioned by political economist and public affairs commentator Pat Utomi, who wonders if the nation is moving forward or backward.
In a post via 𝕏 on Friday, April 11, 2025, Utomi reportedly chastised President Bola Tinubu’s administration for preventing the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) from playing Eedris Abdulkarim’s recently released song, “Tell Your Papa.”
Targeting President Seyi Tinubu’s son, the newly released song urges him to confront his father about Nigeria’s deteriorating socioeconomic situation.
But NBC banned Nigerian radio and television stations from playing the popular song due to its offensive content, according to a document sent by Susan Obi, the Coordinating Director of Broadcast Monitoring, on April 9, 2025.
The Nigeria Broadcasting Code’s Section 3.1.8, which forbids the airing of content judged offensive, improper, or in violation of public morality, was invoked by the commission to proclaim the song Not To Be Broadcast (NTBB).
The prohibition was compared to the military takeover in Rivers State following the imposition of a state of emergency by Utomi in response to the event.
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Utomi remembered how Abdulkarim recorded a similarly heated song under previous President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government and only received verbal criticism from soldiers.
He added, “I just learned that NBC has prohibited the airing of a song by Eedris Abdulkarim that is critical of the Villa incumbents.”
Like the military seizure of Rivers, this censorship is an infringement on the constitution.
The former soldier said the dictator only mistreated Eedris when he sang a similar song and called it Obj.
“Now, those who joyfully danced when Fela made fun of Obj are resorting to state terror with people whose words don’t have the same impact as Fela’s.”
“Are we making progress or regressing?”
