‘Tell Your Papa’ Not Attack on Seyi Tinubu, Just a Message to His Father – Eedris Abdulkareem

Nigerian rapper Eedris Abdulkareem has clarified that his latest track, Tell Your Papa, was not a personal attack on Seyi Tinubu but a response to the businessman’s public praise of his father, President Bola Tinubu.

Appearing on Rubbin’ Minds on Sunday, Abdulkareem said the song was inspired by a video of Seyi Tinubu declaring his father as Nigeria’s greatest president during a March 2025 campaign event in Yola, Adamawa State.

According to the artist, the track was meant to urge Seyi to relay Nigerians’ demands for improved electricity, security, and job creation to his father, rather than serve as a diss.

“If Seyi Tinubu never made that video, I wouldn’t have recorded that song. I was replying to his statement, not attacking him. Nigerian youths just want the basics, not palliatives,” Abdulkareem said.

He also criticized Seyi’s public speech, advising him to avoid the microphone in future appearances. “It looks more perfect when you are silent than when you speak,” he said, adding that Seyi lacked the charisma to accurately reflect Nigeria’s current hardships.

The rapper further argued that while President Tinubu may be a great father to his son, that affection hasn’t translated to good governance. “He empowered his son, but Nigerian youths don’t have jobs, or even food to eat,” Abdulkareem said, challenging Seyi to travel Nigerian roads without security to understand citizens’ suffering.

The track Tell Your Papa has since been banned from airplay by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), a move condemned by many, including Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka, who decried it as a return to censorship and a threat to freedom of expression.

Abdulkareem also recalled that over two decades since he released Nigeria Jaga Jaga, the song remains relevant, underscoring Nigeria’s lingering struggles with development.