I was in a bus with many others going to Oshodi from FESTAC when I first heard the alluringly captivating melody that is ‘Where Is Our Money?’.
The melody was coming from the driver's side of the bus so I knew he was the one playing it.

As the song sailed through the air from the front of the vehicle into our ears, I felt immediately drawn to the sound. I’d never felt like about any song before. There was this absolute connection I felt with it that I could not explain. It was pulsating and it made my heart beat.

Some lines in the song particularly hit me:
"Na so dem take our money run
"Dem just dey fly the thing abroad
"Na so our houses just dey fall
"But dem build house wey dem no need.
“Na only God fit judge this one
“We no get mouth for our own land
“ Na only fit save us now

I was enthralled. I didn’t know when I asked the driver "Oga abeg na who sing this song?"

The driver looked back at me with a smile on his broad face that seemed to say ‘Oh yeah boy, I know you're feeling this tune just as I am.’

"Na one new guy like this o" the driver said "Dem dey call am Samdan. The guy too much abeg. This song suppose teach many politicians some things."

I laughed. The man spoke my mind.

"No be lie you talk oga." a man sitting directly behind me said "I don hear the song before and I dey very sure say our politicians no go like to hear am."

This time everyone in the bus laughed, however I could only muster a chuckle, not because what the man said was not funny but because it was also the sad truth. Many politicians would hate this song because it spoke of the very things they would want swept under the carpet. The very things they don’t want anyone to be conscious of.

What even got me more saddened was the sudden realization that many Nigerians may not want to listen to a song like this because it is not a party song and does not carry with it the ‘gangster-tone’ which is the trademark of popular music in Nigeria, thereby causing the entirely heartfelt message intended to be passed, to be lost to them.

‘Where Is Our Money’ is a startling and yet most interesting diversion from the monotonous music that has taken over Nigeria. First of all, whoever produced the song did complete justice to the sound which richly combines elements of pop, jazz, rock and country flavours. Listening to the end result makes you feel like you have just heard a song from outside the shores of the country.

Needless to say, what we hear all over the place today are songs lustily glorifying the female body, many times in unbelievably rotten language, and even go on to justify dangerously flamboyant lifestyles among the youths.

Songs which top the chart in contemporary Nigeria are songs laden with repetitive and yet impactless words that set the mind on the mundane and outrightly unessential things. And the pathetic thing about the whole affair is that these songs have become so popular that other more meaningful songs are not given due attention. And this is why I was concerned about how Where Is Our Money would fare.

Listening to ‘Where Is Our Money’ is like sitting down under a hard, never-mincing-words kind of preacher to be taught lessons about life and to be slapped with the reality.

The song which is latest effort of fast rising Nigerian singer, Samdan, journeys through the anxieties and economic woes of Nigerians and point out, in a mirthlessly strait tone, what bothers us most as a people.

The music tongue lashes politicians who, though faced with the responsibility to bring Nigeria out of the comatose it has been beaten into, refuse to listen to the voice of reason but instead insist on licking the nation dry leaving its many citizens in horribly pathetic conditions.

I have been playing and replaying ‘Where Is Our Money’ and I have come to realize that it is a dangerous song; a dangerous weapon of change. The song simply has the power to stir people up to demand their rights, and ask for serious explanations. ‘Where Is Our Money’ indeed can reshapen the way politicians act when they get to the seat of power.

If the people we send to the top know that we will demand for some explanation when things go wrong and our money goes missing, they will change their orientation about looting our treasury and concentrate rather on the more beneficial things.

I think ‘Where Is Our Money’ is one of Nigeria’s most dangerous songs because if it goes as viral as it should go, the outrage it could cause would be unprecedentedly massive.

I wonder what will happen if Nigerians begin to sing ‘Where Is Our Money’ the way we sang ‘Godwin’ and ‘Woju’. I wonder how those at the seat of power would feel. I just wonder.

You can listen to the song below:

https://my.notjustok.com/track/135671/samdan-where-is-our-money

E dey TSA...

Cc Lalasticlala

please ooo

Awkward way of promoting your song. Recession everywhere