Following a petition against his nomination by social media users, controversial Nigerian artist Ibrahim Olawale, also known as Brymo, has broken his silence on his loss at the All-Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA.
WITHIN NIGERIA recalls that the artist, who was against the presidential ambition of the Labour Party flagbearer, Peter Obi, came under fire for claiming that an Igbo presidency would be a “pipe dream” because of the drive for Biafra.
As long as there (are) talks by prominent people from Igboland about Biafra, an Igbo presidency will be a pipe dream, he tweeted.
Unperturbed with the heavy backlashes his tweets stirred, Brymo had in another tweet blurted out against Igbos:
F*ck The Ndi Igbo !! .. To H*ll With It!!
Angered by the singer’s constant anti-Igbo comments, a man identified as Charles Ogundele launched the petition against Brymo, urging Nigerians to sign the petition in order to prevent the singer from winning the AFRIMA in 2023.
According to the petition, which was signed by over 47,000 Nigerians, Brymo’s disqualification would send a strong message that blatant ethnic bigotry would not be tolerated.
Brymo later apologized for his remarks, but the organizers did not disqualify him, and he lost the awards to Mali-based Iba One.
In an interview with Cable, Brymo stated that he was looking forward to winning the award before the petition for his disqualification was filed.
He insisted that losing the award had nothing to do with the Southeast fracas but was the result of a number of factors.
Brymo announced his retirement from music shortly before his work was nominated, making him ineligible for the awards.
He said;
I think, months before, I’d announced that I was no longer a musician and that I was instead a sonic artist. It meant I was no longer eligible for awards that musicians get.
However, AFRIMA nominated my work ‘Esan’, so I forgot all that and looked forward to the event. But in truth, I’m no longer a singer so I didn’t want it.
There’s a songwriting category but they shouldn’t nominate sonic artists. I was looking forward to it anyway, and then something happened. I got into trouble talking about Biafra leaving and staying.
So, I stayed out of AFRIMA and didn’t attack the award afterward. Not winning had nothing to do with the southeast fracas. Everything only just came together.