Nigerian rapper, activist and actor, Folarin Falana, popularly known as Falz, has disclosed the reasons he sang his latest song ‘Mr. Yakubu’, and why it was named after INEC chairman, Prof Yakub Mahmood.
Without mincing words, Falz stated that the song mirrors the events that transpired in the recently concluded 2023 elections.
The rapper, who made the disclosure in an interview on Arise Television’s ‘The Morning Show’, noted that the rules and regulations meant to guide the election were jettisoned by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.
Recall his controversial song, ‘Yakubu’ in collaboration with rapper Olanrewaju Ogunmefun, popularly known as Vector, slammed Yakubu for his alleged manipulation of the 2023 presidential election results.
The song which has gone viral since its release on March 30, also referenced the failed promise made by the commission to transmit the results of the elections via its result viewing portal, known as IReV portal, as well as reports of violence, voter intimidation, logistics problems, ballot box snatching, and other incidents that marred the 2023 general election.
The award-winning hip-hop artiste said:
“The song is just an account of events as they transpired in the last couple of months as regards the elections. The song is self explanatory.
“The rules and regulations that were supposed to guide the elections were not applied. The INEC chairman himself prior to the elections had come out to release these regulations.
“By the time these elections were happening, we were seeing that these elections were so not transparent and in short the opposite of what you said it was going to be.
“The lack of transparency was glaring and the unanimous belief was that there was some foul play involved in the electoral process. Everyone had so much faith going into these elections and it was deeply disappointing the way things turned out.”
Speaking further, Falz who is the son of prominent human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), added:
“Nigerians were hopeful that the recent elections won’t be business as usual and that the votes would count, but everything was scattered before our very eyes and nothing was done about that.
“Despite all the numerous cases of violence that we witnessed, upon all the shoddy and manipulated results that we saw, the INEC chairman still went on to declare a winner. The Presidential election was just a big mess.”
