LAGOS, Nigeria(VOICE OF NAIJA)- Veteran Nigerian rapper Eedris Abdulkareem has revealed a dramatic encounter with former president Olusegun Obasanjo over his controversial hit Jagajaga, shedding new light on how the song stirred reactions at the highest level.
Revisiting one of the most talked-about moments in his career on The Honest Bunch podcast, the rapper offered a fresh account of how his 2004 protest song drew negative reactions from Nigeria’s leadership.
According to him, he was asleep when he received a call asking him to turn on his television. When he did, he saw President Olusegun Obasanjo talking about songs he liked before singling out Jagajaga as his least favorite.
Abdulkareem said the president went further to call him a “stupid boy” and added that it was his family that would scatter, echoing the criticism in the song about Nigeria.
“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.
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Rather than take offense, Eedris said he felt happy and proud that his music had reached the president and sparked a reaction, just like he wanted.
However, a few months later, the rapper got an invitation from a close German ally to perform at an international event in Europe where Obasanjo and other dignitaries were present.
To his surprise, the DJ was already playing the controversial song as he made his way to the stage, while the president danced along, unaware that the track had changed.
“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’.”
What followed turned into an unforgettable moment. Eedris explained that Obasanjo initially danced along, not realizing which song was playing,” Abdulkareem stated.
A short while later, Obasanjo recognized the song and abruptly stopped dancing. The rapper said the former president became visibly upset, left the event immediately, and returned to Nigeria.
“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,” the rapper added.
The song, Nigeria Jagajaga by Eedris Abdulkareem was released in 2004 and quickly became one of Nigeria’s most controversial protest songs at the time.
It openly criticized the state of the country and drew reactions from top government officials, including then president Olusegun Obasanjo.
