Veteran Nigerian musician, Eedris Abdulkareem says he feels vindicated 18 years after he released his hit track Nigeria Jaga Jaga.
Abdulkareem made this known in a recent interview on Channels TV‘s Rubbing Minds explaining that the country has remained the same even though he was openly criticized by the then president of the country following the release of his song.
The Jaga Jaga crooner said: “In 2002 I dropped Nigeria Jaga Jaga, and the ex-president came on the National TV and said that boy wey sing that song, na him papa and him family jaga jaga. I was very happy that my message got to the president. I was very happy that the president talked back at me because that means they were listening and today I’ve been vindicated again because Nigeria is still jaga jaga.”
Eedris Abdulkareem released the controversial hit track, Jaga Jaga, a Yoruba term for a shambles, declaiming corruption and suffering in Nigeria in 2002. The title track was banned from radio by the Federal Government because it projected corruption and suffering in Nigeria but continued to be played in nightclubs.
In 2005, Abdulkareem launched his own record label, La Kreem Music and released his fourth album, Letter to Mr. President. He released a sequel to Jaga Jaga in 2012 during the Occupy Nigeria protest against lifting of fuel subsidies.