Lagos, July 26 (Mediaage NG News) – Nobel Laureate Prize winning author, Prof. Wole Soyinka has defended music icon, Davido over a video he shared on social media that was allegedly offensive to Muslims.
One scene in the 45 seconds video portrayed men in white clothes dancing in front of a mosque and it drew criticism from some angry youths in the mainly Muslim north-eastern city of Maiduguri to pull down Davido’s posters.
They tore and set fire on them, some media said.
The video clip was aimed at promoting a new song by Logos Olori, signed to Davido’s record label – also had some prominent Muslims calling for an apology from Davido. This led to the singer deleting the video from Instagram.
However, Prof Soyinka while revealing that he had not seen the video, hit out over the backlash. In a letter to Premium Times news, Soyinka said:
“Dancing in front of a mosque cannot be read as an act of provocation or offence but as affirmation of the unified sensibility of the spiritual in human.
“There are certain principles, histories, rights and responsibilities of artistic creativity that should not be smothered under emotional manipulation.
“No apology is required, none should be offered.”
Soyinka finally said those who were offended can exercise their right of boycotting Davido’s products.
