Minister of state for labour and employment, Festus Keyamo has called out Eedris Abdulkareem, Nigerian singer, over ‘Jaja Jaga Reloaded song, he recently released.
The musician had on Tuesday released the project, which was the remake of ‘Jaga Jaga’, his 2002 hit track.
In the song, Abdulkareem reflected on last year’s #EndSARS protest, the numerous challenges confronting the country and how the leaders have failed to tackle them headlong.
He had also aimed a dig at Keyamo, alleging that the minister has ditched his characteristic vocal criticisms of societal ills because he has “joined cabal to chop money.”
“Where Festus Keyamo sef? He don dey chop with cabal o,” he could be heard singing with a picture of the minister.
But in a Twitter thread on Saturday, Keyamo alleged that Abdulkareem was attempting to blackmail him because he rejected the singer’s request to join the Buhari-led administration’s campaign team.
He said Abdulkareem had approached him in 2018 — shortly after he was made the director of strategic communications for the Buhari campaign organisation (BCO) — and offered to produce a song promoting the president, who was seeking a second term in office then.
Keyamo said he, however, rejected the offer because the musician requested money to execute the project.
The minister added that the singer thereafter begged him for a loan of over three million naira to pay for his hotel bills in Abuja and also cater for his sick mother.
Keyamo also disclosed that the musician pleaded with him to introduce him to Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation (AGF), and Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, to pursue his course of “getting into the system”
The minister alleged that his refusal to honour Abdulkareem’s request led the singer to endorse Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), for the 2019 general elections and to become a critic of Buhari’s government after the polls.
