Edo government shuts down event centre where Eedris Abdulkareem called Tinubu "the worst president"

An event centre in Edo State has been shut down by the state government, days after veteran rapper Eedris Abdulkareem used its stage to deliver one of his most direct attacks on President Bola Tinubu to date.

Though no official reason has been given for the closure, the timing has raised eyebrows. At the event, Eedris heavily criticised Tinubu and his recent behaviour.

"Tinubu is the worst president. Anyone supporting APC, may Nigeria happen to you," he told the crowd, who responded with loud affirmation. 

READ OUR REPORT HERE: ‘Nigeria’s worst ever president’: Eedris Abdulkareem slams Tinubu and his supporters

He went further, taking aim at Tinubu's widely criticised visit to Plateau State following the Jos attacks in late March, where gunmen killed dozens of civilians across two communities.

"Commander in chief wey get all the security go Jos no fit enter town to go console those wey die," he said. "Tinubu na biggest fraud."

The venue shutdown has not been officially linked to those comments. But the political climate in Edo State makes the sequence difficult to ignore.

Governor Monday Okpebholo is one of Tinubu's most vocal supporters in the South-South. Last month, he publicly pledged 2.5 million votes to the President for the 2027 elections at a rally in Benin City, declaring that Edo State is "firmly in the grips of the APC." 

He has also framed the state's development achievements as a product of federal backing, making any public attack on Tinubu within his territory a politically charged matter.

Eedris, the Jaga Jaga hitmaker widely regarded as one of Nigerian hip-hop's most enduring political voices, has been here before. His 2004 broadside against Obasanjo made him a target and a symbol in equal measure. 

The fact that he is still delivering the same message two decades later and still drawing the same crowd reaction is its own kind of commentary.

Whether the shutdown was punitive or coincidental, it has done the one thing such actions rarely intend, which is getting Eedris's words to travel further than the event ever would have on its own.

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