About 10 years after ebullient rapper, Eedris
Abdukareem, released a
song titled Nigeria Jaga
jaga, former President
Olusegun Obasanjo is still angry with him.

Obasanjo had hit back at
the artiste when the album
was freshly released, with
some people quoting him
as saying it was the
singer’s father’s house that was jagajaga. While many people may
largely agree with the
singer that the country is
truly upside down based
on the state of things,
Obasanjo, has again described the song as
being blasphemous.
According to him
producing such a song
shows that the artiste does
not believe in the future of the country.

The former president made
the remarks in Lagos on
Tuesday while speaking at
a forum organised by the
Nigeria Leadership
Initiative. Obasanjo also expressed his passion to
see the country excel.

Expressing his disdain for
the attitude of some
Nigerians, he said one of
the worst problems Nigeria
is facing is disbelief.

“Nigerians no longer
believe in themselves;
neither do they believe in
their country. That takes
me back to that song ‘jaga
jaga’. How could a sane man dare to call his country
jaga jaga?” he said. “It is
the height of blasphemy.
We are grooming our
youths for tomorrow’s
leadership and with such persons, I don’t think the
country can move
forward.”

The former president has
never hesitated to express
his displeasure at
Abdulkareem, a former
member of The Remedies,
for deriding Nigeria. The hit track of the album
released on Kennis Music
label was banned from
radio airplay by the
president in a televised
address, although it enjoyed continued play in
nightclubs. Abdulkareem had a chance
to reply Obasanjo in
January during the fuel
subsidy protest. He said,
“The man wey say i dey
craze because I sing Nigeria Jaga Jaga where him dey
now inside this hardship?
Na 2002 I singNigeria Jaga
Jaga, na 2012 we dey so
o.”