Veteran Nigerian rapper Eedris Abdulkareem has opened up about a tense encounter with former president Olusegun Obasanjo over his controversial track ‘Jagajaga’.
Speaking during an appearance on The Honest Bunch podcast, the artiste recounted how the situation began after he received a call alerting him that Obasanjo was discussing him on television.
“I was sleeping one day and received a call from someone, ‘Put on your TV, Obasanjo is talking about you.’ I was like, really, what did I do?
“And I heard Obasanjo say that he loves songs like ‘If you push me, I will push you’, he loves songs like ‘He go better’, but there is one stupid boy that sang ‘Nigeria Jagajaga’. It’s his father and his mother that are Jagajaga,” he said.
Despite the harsh criticism, Abdulkareem said he felt encouraged that his message had reached the president rather than discouraged.
Months later, he was invited to perform at an international event in Europe attended by Obasanjo and other dignitaries.
“Three months later, my friend, the German ambassador, reached out and said I should come perform at an event where the president would be. When it was my turn, before I got on stage, the DJ started playing ‘Jagajaga’.”
He said Obasanjo initially danced to the track without recognising it, but reacted once he realised what song was playing.
“At that moment, Obasanjo didn’t know the song. He was dancing. A few minutes later, it dawned on him that it was ‘Nigeria Jagajaga’. He got upset immediately, stood up and travelled back to Nigeria,” he said.