I replied Seyi Tinubu, didn’t attack him – Eedris Abdulkareem

Nigerian singer and rapper Eedris Abdulkareem has denied the allegation that he attacked Seyi Tinubu with his new song, disclosing that he only replied to a statement he made that his father, President Bola Tinubu, is Nigeria’s best-ever president.

The younger Tinubu made the statement in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, in March 2025.

The rapper said his new song ‘Tell Your Papa’ was not an attack on Seyi but a call for the president’s son to tell his father to address Nigeria’s economic and security challenges.

“Nigerian youths are just asking for basics: electricity, security, enabling economic environment, job creation and not palliatives,” Abdulkareem said on Channels Television’s Rubbin’ Minds programme on Sunday.

“So, why should I attack Seyi Tinubu personally? If Seyi Tinubu never talked about it, I wouldn’t have recorded a song like that. So, I am replying to the video that he made. If he had kept quiet, I wouldn’t have said anything. I am inspired by Seyi Tinubu to record that song.”

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) immediately tagged Abdulkareem’s new song as inappropriate and banned it on radio and television.

The ban has been faulted by many Nigerians including Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, who described the development as a return of censorship and a threat to the right to free speech.

During the television programme, Abdulkareem lamented that 24 years after he released a previous song, ‘Nigeria jagajaga’, the song is still relevant because Nigeria has not experienced the necessary development.

He said, “I was inspired by Seyi Tinubu to record the song. I saw a video where he was campaigning for his father and he was defending his father, saying ‘My father is the best president, my father is the greatest president, they are coming for my father…’

“He (Seyi) repeated it like six times. But for Seyi, I differ because it looks more perfect when you are silent than when you speak. I would advise Seyi to hand over the microphone to the MC next time. He lacks the charisma and purpose to express himself, telling the truth about the true economic situation in Nigeria under his father’s government.”

The rapper said Tinubu might be the best father to his son but not to Nigerians. “He (Tinubu) has empowered Seyi as his son but Nigerian youths don’t have jobs talkless of food to eat. The Nigerian youths can’t travel by road so I ask Seyi Tinubu to travel by road without his security. Let him feel the pains of ordinary citizens,” he said.

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