Muslim group backs down on court action against Falz for 'This is Nigeria' video

In a swift turn of events barely 7 days after the threat of a legal action, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) have now backed down on their ultimatum.

 

he Muslim Rights Concern, (MURIC) have dropped its move to proceed with a lawsuit against rapper, Falz for his video, 'This is Nigeria'.

On June 5, MURIC issued a seven-day ultimatum to Falz, ordering him to take down his music video titled “This is Nigeria” and tender an apology or face legal action.

The ultimatum immediately generated a lot of reactions and criticisms from Nigerians who condemned the group. 

 

In a fresh statement signed by the its director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, and made available on Monday, June 11, the group has now backed down on the threat and would instead report Falz to the appropriate agencies.

The statement by MURIC reads thus in part; “In view of the intervention of well-meaning Nigerians, counselling from several quarters and commitments given by us to those who interfaced with us on this matter, an emergency meeting of MURIC’s Think-Tank was convened on Sunday, June 10, 2018 to review the situation and resolved to drag the artist to government agencies saddled with the responsibility of censoring films and videos.

It is not a U-turn but a sudden change in tactics’.

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) last week resolved to sue Folarin Falana (Falz the Bahd Guy), a Nigerian artist, who produced the video song titled ‘This is Nigeria’ in which a Fulani man was seen beheading somebody.

The video also featured hijab-wearing female choreographers dancing the ‘shaku-shaku’ (a dance associated with drug). A seven-day ultimatum was given for the withdrawal of the video and an apology failing which a legal tussle would be launched.

Our office has since been inundated with solidarity visits, while our telephone lines have been flooded with a deluge of calls from members, friends, well-wishers, journalists and other concerned Nigerians, majority of whom are of the Islamic faith.''

Falz stated he had no plans to take his 'This is Nigeria' video

 

 

Following the release of the ultimatum by MURIC, Pulse swiftly reached out to a representative of the rapper, Femisoro Ajayi, who confirmed that he was aware of the statement by the Muslim group, but they have no plans to take down the video.

'Yes, I have seen the statement online, but we have no official response yet, the video is out there and we have no plans to take it down, we will only respond when we get an official letter directly sent to us'', he says.

The video continues to trend on YouTube with over 5 million views in two weeks.