Author: Michelle Abraham, Image courtesy of Getty Images
Nigeria's Nobel Prize winning author Wole Soyinka has defended Afrobeats star Davido over a music video he shared on social media that reportedly offended some Muslims.
Davido shared a clip by another artist, Logos Olori, who is signed to his label which reportedly showed men dancing outside a mosque.
The video allegedly drew criticism from some members of the Muslim community. Local media reported that some youths in the mainly Muslim north-eastern city of Maiduguri pulled down posters of Davido, tore them up and set them on fire.
The 45-second clip, which has since been deleted from Davido’s Instragram, also reportedly caused anger on social media.
Nobel-Prize winning author Soyinka has since urged Davido not to apologise. BBC News reported he said, “I have not seen the clip, but I insist on the right of the artiste to deploy dance in a religious setting as a fundamental given.”
This morning (July 26), two Nigerian media outlets reported that Davido's manager, Israel Afeare, had apologised on Instagram over the controversial video. However, it appears the reported apology no longer appears on his Instagram account.
On publication, neither Davido himself, nor Logos Olori have commented.