AfroChurch

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has backed down on its earlier threat to institute a court case against popular musician  Folarin Falana, A.K.A Falz, over his musical video, ‘This is Nigeria’.

This is coming less than two weeks after the Muslim group had given Falz a seven-day ultimatum to withdraw the video it regarded as being offensive to the Muslim faith and described as a ‘Hate video’.

In a statement on Sunday by its Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, MURIC claimed its new decision was “not a U-turn but a sudden change in tactics”. It said the body has decided on a new line of action that would “have a more enduring impact not only on Falz but the entire entertainment industry.

According to Akintola,”It will also make the agencies sit up to their responsibilities and inject a huge dose of discipline in the music and film industries in general.”

“Although the artist has tried to clear himself in published interviews made available to us. According to him, he did not intend to ridicule Muslims. He said his intention was to call attention to the plight of the Chibok girls although we think he has done that the wrong way.

“A scene in the video in which the ‘Chibok girls’ are in pensive mood would have been more representative of the reality on ground, because kidnapped girls cannot be dancing like people under the influence of drugs. They are in captivity and so they have no cause under the sun for jubilating.”

“Again, the Fulani were painted as killers while Benue militia who rustle Fulani cattle and slaughter their wives and children were not featured. This is grossly unfair. Falz should find a way of balancing his video. The kidnappers of the South East (also Christians) were spared while the oil saboteurs of the Niger Delta (Christians too) were ignored. Falz’s video is loaded with Islamophobia. That video should be titled ‘This is not Nigeria’. It is Islam-bashing. Nigeria’s video regulatory agency should, therefore, ban the video or ask the artist to edit it properly.”

Falz Gets The Backing Of His Father, Femi Falana.

In a related report, the father of the artist in question and renowned human rights lawyer, Femi Falana ( SAN), has spoken up in defense of his son daring MURIC to take legal action over the said video.

Reacting to the threat in a telephone chat with Entertainment Plus, the renowned lawyer said “in as much as freedom of speech is constitutionally guaranteed in the country, nobody has the right to threaten another person. According to him, the video in question contains a lot of messages and desired to be encouraged by anybody who has the interest of this country at heart.

Speaking further, Falana said he has confirmed that his son, who’s also a lawyer by profession, is handling the threat within the ambit of the law. “My son is a lawyer and I have confirmed that he’s handling the threat within the ambit of the law. The video in question contains a lot of messages and it should be encouraged by anybody who has the interest of our country at heart.”