Praise singing among Nigerian musicians has been a trend that has persisted for decades in the entertainment industry, and often involves mentioning the names of high caliber elites. Even among contemporary artists within the Afrobeats genre, the trend has been growing for some years now. This culture, however, was recently put in the spotlight when popular Nigerian singer, Teniola Akpata, popularly known as Teni shared a video of herself and controversial businessman, IBD Dende on an airplane while the latter showered the singer with wads of cash.
On 3 May 2024, Teni took to her pages on X (formerly known as Twitter) and Instagram to share the video where she is seen prostrating to IBD Dende, while the latter gave the former a stack of cash. Teni shared the video along with a caption that read:
“meet Ibd Dende for plane, Baba don drop Oooooooo!!!! Make I land first!!!!!! I go share update!!!”
At the time of writing this article, the post has 5 million views with 1 900 comments on X, and more than 97 000 likes and 2 252 comments on Instagram.
Ordinarily, this wouldn’t have been an issue, but due to the recent investigative report carried out by the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), the public did not respond positively to the move. The report alleges IBD Dende’s involvement in the smuggling of goods and colluding with customs officers. As such, Teni incurred the wrath of Nigerians, particularly the youth who have been on rampage since the country’s last general election.
When Teni was seen with IBD Dende, where she confirmed that he had given her money, some Nigerians felt betrayed. Teni was perceived as someone who does not mind mixing with alleged criminals, if it means she gets the bag.
Ordinarily, poverty could have been blamed for Teni’s actions, but it is common knowledge that the “Uyomeyo” singer is not from a poor family. Teni has never been poor and, in fact, her late father, Captain Apata was known for his hard stance on corruption and illicit practices.
What many who blamed Teni for praise singing IBD Dende do not realise is that this culture dates back decades, and is prevalent within many music genres in Nigeria. Commander Ebenezer Obe is known for praise singing the rich and elite, and even went on to create a whole album for a number of them. King Sunny Ade, his rival, followed suit and did the same.
A popular genre of music, Fuji which is enjoyed by the Yoruba people mostly from Southwest, Nigeria, is largely based on praise singing. Notably, the late Sikiru Ayinde Barrister was renowned for mentioning the names of wealthy personalities, especially with the intent to either show his appreciation or get some patronage in terms of monetary gifts.
Even more extreme, other Fuji singers such as Alabi Pasuma, Saheed Osupa and Kwam1 have a tendency to go even further during live performance on stage. Notable personalities are mentioned on stage, which in turn inspires these “celebs” to go up on stage and make it rain money on the singers, so to speak.
This culture is not going away anytime soon when it comes to Fuji music. The reason may be because many Fuji musicians get more patronage when they perform at live shows, unlike their Afrobeats counterparts who leverage the marketing and distribution of their music through record labels and on streaming platforms.
Away from the Fuji genre, the likes of 9ice, Ruger, Patoraking, are also known to praise sing rich and affluent personalities in their songs. 9ice mentions IBD Dende in one of his songs, extolling his virtue of giving money to people without thinking twice.
On his part, Patoraking in his song, ‘Celebrate Me’ mentions the names of Obi Cubana, Femi Otedola, Arthur Eze, Tompolo, Obafemi Martins, Mike Adenuga amongst others. Olamide is also renowned to have publicly acknowledged his closeness with a former governor of Lagos state, Akinwumi Ambode. In fact, in one of the lyrics of his song, Olamide states that since he lost his parents, Ambode has been there for him acting like his adopted father.
While singers are at liberty to mention the names of personalities in their songs, it is not their duty to investigate and pass judgment on the source of their wealth. The likes of Obi Cubana and D'banj have both been arrested amid allegations of money laundering and corruption respectively, yet none of them were found guilty.
Teni has said that as far as she knows, IBD Dende has not been found guilty of any wrongdoing and that the businessman showed her kindness in the past before she made it to stardom. Ultimately, it remains the job of law enforcement agencies to thoroughly investigate any allegations against any personalities who associate with an artist. All that the masses can do is enjoy the music, if they so wish.
