Former Presidential aide, Reno Omokri, has remarked that it is unwise for Davido to listen to an atheist like Professor Wole Soyinka who advised him not to apologize to Muslims who are offended by one of his signees’ music videos.
Davido was recently called out for sharing a music video by his new signee, Logos Olori, which received harsh criticism from Muslims who found its content offensive and disrespectful.
The controversial video depicted men dressed in white ‘jalabiya’ praying and dancing in front of a mosque.
Muslim believers were deeply upset by the video, considering it disrespectful to their religion, Islam.
In response to the outrage, Davido eventually took down the video from his Twitter account but did not apologize to the Muslim community.
However, in a statement on Tuesday, Soyinka threw his weight behind the 30BG boss.
Rising to defend Davido, Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka in a statement released, accused former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El Rufai of making derogatory comments against Christians in the past but was never asked to apologize.
He also noted that it wasn’t Davido’s music that lynched Deborah Yakubu, a second-year Christian college student who was killed by a mob of Muslim students in Sokoto last year over alleged blasphemy. He averred that he sees no basis for Davido to apologize to Muslims.
Reacting to Soyinka’s comment, Reno via his Instagram page wrote;
“It would be very unwise for Davido to take the counsel of an atheist like Professor Wole Soyinka, who is telling him he owes no apology to Muslims, over the video for the song jaye lo. This is a man who does not believe in God. How can he then know how people who believe in God feel?
Islam belongs to Muslims, who assert that they received it from God. It is not for an atheist or a Christian or any practitioner of another religion other than Islam to tell them how to feel when their faith is used in ways they disapprove of.
Is this not the same Professor Wole Soyinka who, just two weeks ago, on July 7, 2023, condemned the Emir of Ilorin for stopping an Osun priestess, Yeye Ajesikemi Omolara, from holding an Isese festival in Ilorin and demanded redress for Osun worshippers? So, why is he now against redress for Muslims?
Nigerians need to remember that this is the same Wole Soyinka who, on May 8, 2023, boasted that Peter Obi apologised to him in person over the attacks on his person by Obidients. Yet, he is here counselling Davido not to apologise to Muslims over a video they consider sacrilegious.
Christians have also previously taken offence with movies and music that, in our view, are sacrilegious about the person of our Lord and Saviour. These include the movies The First Temptation of Christ and The Last Temptation of Christ. We collectively boycotted these movies and demanded an apology and their recall. We were also upset when Mallam Nasir El-Rufai made a crude joke about our Lord and Saviour. How will we feel if a Muslim celebrity comes out to say we do not deserve any apology for those movies and jokes?
In Mark 12:31, our Lord told us to love our neighbour as ourselves. Muslims are our neighbours. They joined us in condemning El-Rufai when he made his crude Jesus joke. They united with us in asking him to apologise. Under pressure from both Christians and Muslims, El-Rufai apologised.
Deleting the offending video is a first step for which I commend Davido. Apologising will put the matter to an end and assuage the hurt feelings of Muslims.
An elder should be known for putting out fires, not for adding fuel to flames.”
