Folarin Falana otherwise known as Falz the Badh guy has finally spoken about the furore surrounding his ‘This is Nigeria’ video which while receiving a lot of critical acclaim from fellow celebrities, it did also draw the ire of the Muslim Rights Concern who threatened to sue him over what they called a degradation of the Muslim hijab.
Falz in an interview with the Punch stated that he knew the video would at least conversation, but perhaps not the controversy it brought with it, he also stated that Christians hadn’t come out with hate for the video even though it depicted pastors in a bad light.
When asked about why he input the ‘Shaku Shaku’ dance in the video being performed by girls in hijab and MURIC’s involvement, he said; I think it is very clear what that scene represented in the video. The message is very clear because the girls there symbolise the constant issues and troubles that face the innocent girl child in Nigeria, especially in the northern part of Nigeria. They have been victims of kidnappings and we have the case of the Chibok girls and recently the Dapchi girls. Till date, most of the Chibok girls have not been found while a Dapchi girl is still held captive. That is what those girls symbolise. I feel everyone got the message and it is absurd that a group of people like MURIC alleged that it is a hate video. I do not think that makes sense in any way because in the same video, I spoke about other issues like insecurity, corruption, and I even talked about pastors. No Christian has come out to say that it is a hate video; so what is MURIC talking about? I do not really understand them.
Asked about why the girls had to perform a secular dance step, he said it was symbolic, If you noticed, I was dancing as well and the dance was symbolic. The dance was symbolic of entertainment being a distraction from everything that is happening in our society. Shaku Shaku is the most popular dance step in Nigeria and it is currently in vogue; it is pretty clear that with all that is happening, everyone is embedded and carried away with the dance culture. I was just trying to say that everyone is too carried away with entertainment that they seem to forget all the things that are happening right in front of our faces.
He also said that he was surprised that MURIC in any way interpreted the video as a hate video and that while he had not been dragged to court, he’d be ready if they decided to pursue legal proceedings.
