Artistes Not Doing Enough to Speak for The People— Samklef

Singer and music producer, Samuel Oguachuba, aka Samklef says Nigerian artistes are not doing enough in terms of speaking truth to power.

The Singer, in a chat with Punch, alleged that the musicians became quiet out of the fear of being arrested by Department of State Services or that they just don’t care.

He then urged musicians in the country to always use their platforms to speak truth to power and stay away from politicians.

He said, “Nigerian artistes are not doing enough to speak for the people. They are all silent. It is either they are afraid of being picked up by the Department of State Services or they just don’t care. The same thing happened in Fela’s time.

“Fela was the only one speaking out, while other musicians were quiet. And because of lack of information, many people did not know what was going on. Musicians need to use their platforms and stay away from politicians for now.”

The music producer while reacting to claims by people that he is living on past glory, he continued “Nigerians like to focus on other people’s business. I am still an artiste and producer. I started blogging because of the one-sidedness of the industry, so I created my (own news platform).

“I have a platform where I can speak and that is why people can listen to me now. My blog is a conscious one. I say things as they are. If you are my friend and you do something wrong, I would call you out. My blog is like the voice of Fela but in written form.

“There is nothing like past glory. There is no how you would talk about a thing without referring to its history. I did it (music) and I was successful. That is part of my story and no one can take it away. People who say I live on past glory have the minds of slaves because they are not enlightened. What they cannot build, they want to pull down.”