I was at a lounge in Ikeja, Lagos, last Friday and the topic on the floor was about 2baba. The focus was not about music or a recent collaboration, it bothered on an allegation that he had collected N100 million from former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar to lead a protest that would upset the present administration led by Muhammadu Buhari.
I took the gist as a joke. I felt they have had some drinks and were merely reacting to the effect of alcohol.
Again, on Monday, a daily newspaper said its investigation had revealed that former Akwa Ibom State Governor, Chief Godswill Obot Akpabio, was the chief sponsor of the planned massive nationwide protest.
It alleged that the singer was being used as a stooge to drive the protest against Buhari. Recall that Akpabio, now a senator, in 2013 gave the ‘African Queen’ crooner two brand new Prado SUVs as wedding gifts.
Even though the first allegation looked unserious, the most recent one is difficult to ignore because of the history 2baba shares with Akpabio. For 2baba, the protest is to serve as “a call for good governance. A call for urgent explanation into the reckless economic downturn nationwide…to come out and protest this obnoxious, baseless policies and excuses of the government of the day.”
While some celebrities like Burna Boy, Davido and Alibaba had endorsed the protest, others are against it. Comedian Bovi, actress Funke Adesiyan, Saheed Balogun and Blackface rubbished it.
Blackface, who has a long-standing feud with 2baba, said, “We just got out from a crazy time and the government is trying to fix the country. It’s time to support the government and see what we can do for the country and not protest. They have been there for smaller amount of time and we expect them to do miracles.”
An actor, who does not want his identity revealed, said , “Tuface is sick for thinking of a protest along this line. Charity begins at home. We should sort our home first before going to the market.
They have been pirating our jobs and he has not thought of a protest. But he now wants to organise this one. When he had his wedding, they gave him cars. We all heard of it. Let us fight against piracy first, we could then think of other things.
Let’s face the legislators who had refused to pass the law on piracy and win the battle. “Our house is burning and you are going to the market place to quench the fire. What then happens to the house?
I do not support him. If we solve the problem in our house, then we could think of the market. We have been screaming in the papers over the danger of piracy, but no one is doing anything.
They told us that we were looking for cheap publicity.” No doubt, piracy has been a thorn in the flesh of entertainers. And there have been other issues in the past and in the present that no entertainer has organised a protest for. What then could be special about this? Is it just for humanitarian reason or there is more to it?
Inasmuch as there is reason to suspect that the protest is buoyed by 2baba’s selfish agenda, he could be given a benefit of doubt.
Though, he could be deceiving the public, the fact that Nigerians are angry with the present administration is not in doubt. We all want and deserve answers to many problems facing us as a people.
For now, the planned nationwide protest, scheduled for February 5, has now been moved to February 6.
The reason for the 24-hour shift is for the protest to coincide with the date President Buhari will return from his holiday. President Buhari is currently on a 10-day medical vacation in the United Kingdom and he is expected back in the country on Monday, February 6, 2017.
