Nigeria in the fourth republic.

His description of the situation then was perfect, but not for the president and his team. The president particularly came hard on him. Obasanjo told Eedris that it was his father and mother who were jagajaga and not Nigeria.

Instead of acknowledging the problem and searching for a solution, the government went hard on the critics while Nigerians continued to suffer. Obasanjo served his constitutionally allowed two terms and handed them over to a successor in 2007.

The coming of Yar'adua as president was met with high expectations. He was a university teacher before venturing into politics. Being the first university degree holder to emerge president, Nigerians were expecting some changes from the usual style of the previous leaders, who were not as educated as he was. He started well. He put a stop to some security challenges, like militancy in the Niger Delta region. He spent approximately three years as president before he died in office.

The successive presidents that followed couldn't lead the country to prosperity. Terrorism escalated. Banditry blew out of proportion. Instead of lifting more people out of poverty with purposeful leadership, more were sliding below the poverty line. One thing that was common to all the leaders was intolerance toward criticism. Many journalists were persecuted—some eliminated—for exposing the corruption of the government.

20 years after Eedris sang Nigerian jagajaga, things had gone from bad to worse. In 2024, it is undeniably clear that Nigeria of 2004 was far better than now. Eedris Abdulkareem cooked another song to criticize the situation. The song was released a few weeks ago, and it is titled Emilokan.

The current president during his campaign said the word which means that it was his turn to be president. He won the election.

More than a year later, nothing had improved.

Emilokan (it is my turn) has turned to ebilokan (it's time for hunger) in the words of Eedris. Nigeria is currently going through the most severe economic hardships in history.

The situation was well captured by the recent New York Times' report.

Of the numerous roles that music plays in society, one of them is to hold leaders responsible. When the people are happy, it is easily reflected in the songs of their indigenous musicians. The same thing happens when they are not happy.

The response of the leader shouldn't be about going hard on the messenger but reflecting on the message and finding a way to right the wrongs identified. If this had been done to the Nigeria jagajaga of 20 years ago, there wouldn't have been a need for Eedris to sing ebilokan 20 years later.

I salute Eedris Abdulkareem and every other musician globally who is holding leaders across the board responsible for their duty to the people.