Category: Entertainment

Nigerian Rapper Folarin Falana aka falz who has come under fire from many Muslim groups and individuals for using ladies dressed in Hijab for his viral video ‘This is Nigeria’ has just reacted. He was even given a seven days ultimate by a Muslim group to take down the song. Read Here.

Speaking as a guest on Linda Ikeji TV’s show, Verified, hosted by Tope Olowoniyan, Falz  spoke about his worries for Nigeria and how people missed the point of his new music video ”This is Nigeria”.

Controversies have continued to trail the music video because he used video vixens dressed in Hijab.

When asked if the video vixens dancing Shaku Shaku in Hijab was intentional, Falz said

”It was very intentional. We continue to forget or neglect the innocence of the girl child and because of all the issues that wer are having, the kidnappings and the killings especially in the Northern part of the country, the Chibok girls and very more recently the Dapchi girls, It is very disturbing and we don’t often talk about them and I was a bit surprised to hear people say why would you put girls in Hijab to dance Shaku Shaku…common, is there anything wrong with people dancing because they are wearing Hijabs? Is their any law against that?

Watch a clip from the interview below;

In the recently released video, some girls dressed in hijab were seen dancing the “shaku shaku” dance.

Responding to criticisms that trailed the video, Falz explained that the girls were a representation of the abducted Chibok girls still in Boko Haram captivity.

But MURIC, in a statement by Ishaq Akintola, its director,  said the dancers in the video in no way depict the situation of the girls.

The group also condemned “a character that dressed like a Fulani man, who suddenly abandoned his traditional guitar and beheaded a man” featured in the video.

Describing the video as “thoughtless, insensitive and highly provocative,” MURIC said it could brew religious and ethnic crisis.

It also said the video is spiteful and intended to denigrate Islam and Muslims.

“MURIC rejects Falz’ explanation that the girls in hijab in his ‘Shaku Shaku’ dance symbolize the Chibok girls because nothing in the video indicates that the girls represent the Chibok girls,” the statement read.

“At least none of the Chibok girls have been seen dancing like a drunkard. They are always in pensive mood. Do they have any cause to be dancing? Are they happy?

“The video manifests ethnic bias against Fulanis while it ignored the criminal activities of ethnic militia of the Middle Belt who have also massacred Fulanis and rustled their cattle in their thousands.

“It is a hate video. This video has the potential of causing religious crisis of unprecedented dimension.

“It is an assault on the self-dignity of every Muslim. It is freedom of expression gone haywire.

“We therefore demand its withdrawal and an apology to Nigerian Muslims within seven days or the authors and their agents will face legal action if they fail to comply.

“Only the scenes portraying police brutality and the money-swallowing snake in the video are near the truth.”

The group called on security agencies and the National Film And Video Censors Board (NFVCB) to clamp down on the video.

“We call the attention of security agencies to this hate action,” the statement continued.

“We remind Nigerians …

National Film And Video Censors Board (NFVCB), Abuja, has reacted to Falz’ hit music video ‘this is Nigeria’ in which he had female choreographers dancing Shaku-Shaku in Hijab and addressed several other issues affecting the nation.

The Director, Licensing Department of the NFVCB, Cornell Agim ,the agency in charge of censorship and rating of music videos and movies revealed to veteran entertainment journalist Rasheed Abubaka, that Falz didn’t bring his music video for licensing and rating before he released it to the public and unfortunately, the agency’s monitoring team hasn’t reported the video to the directorate.

He said that, though it is their job is to censor and rate videos before they get to the public, they can’t be everywhere. That is why journalists and members of the public affected by the visuals are expected to notify them. With that, they can investigate the videos.

In his words, ‘the agency do censorship and rating of music video before it gets to the general public. We ensure we do analysis of those videos. We also try as much as possible not to tamper with the creative intention of any artiste except they come with some obscenity, which we most time kick against. BUT Falz didn’t bring his music video for licensing before it gets to the public. As the Director of Licensing, I haven’t seen the video. Same as the agency. None of our monitoring team has brought it to my notice. Hence, we didn’t censor it before it gets to the public.

He added that,

‘the truth is, most time we can’t reach out. We are handicap because we are not everywhere and we can’t be everywhere. That’s why people like you (journalists) should notify us once you see things like that. Bring them to our notice and we’ll investigate it and bring the perpetrators to book. Often time, we get complain from Nigerians, saying what’s the agency doing? We are trying our best though our best might not be good enough. That’s why we need people like you …