Nigeria is at a very risky moment in its history, according to Nigerian rapper Tobechukwu Melvin Ejiofor, better known by his stage name Illbliss.
The musician voiced concerns about growing insecurity, economic hardship, wanton corruption, and the government’s propaganda apparatus during an interview on a recent episode of the Real Shareholders podcast.
He described the removal of his politically conscious song “Country” from the radio due to its criticism of the administration.
He bemoaned the use of digital propaganda tools by the government to spread lies and stifle dissent.”I had this record in 2020 called ‘Country,'” he continued. They removed it from the radio. I published other conscious songs like “A Different Kind Of War” and “National Cake” prior to “Country.” However, OAPs frequently claim that they are not allowed to perform such songs due to the possibility of fines.
“Every now and then, you put out a record and you see like a 100 or more tweets come at you like, ‘Why are you always trying to make a mockery of the country? The country is not as bad as it is.’ And you just know that it is an artificial pushback, perhaps, a digital response to whatever. Because I know that propaganda can’t just be on traditional media anymore. Propagandists can have a podcast just to say the government is doing great. And you will see people from our generation sit proudly with their faces showing and say, ‘But this government has created jobs. You can tell.’“That’s our location. The period in our history where the government is matching our energy is really perilous. We assumed we had social media, but with everything that occurs on these platforms, you start to question whether the government has started to support ideas of distraction or if it has become much more sophisticated. Look around us, I mean.
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