In Defence of Naira Marley: What his critics ought to learn – Benjamin Adebisi

 

“Moreover, Naira Marley is not your children’s or youth life coach, so it is not necessary to nail him based on negative influences alleged against his styles of entertainment; there are more vices in Big Brother Naija and Nollywood than what Naira Marley has portrayed in his music.”

PEGASUS REPORTERS, LAGOS | SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

Azeez Adeshina Fashola, known as Naira Marley is a British-Nigerian singer and songwriter and the acclaimed president of the Marlians.

The 32-year Record label owner recently appeared to be on a bad note with many Nigerians, some of whom patronized him before now, because of the death of one of the artists with his record label, who reportedly parted ways with him before meeting his untimely death.

As much as I wouldn’t join in the clouts chasing unnecessary sympathy of a singer, MohBad, who suddenly wanted to be a multimillionaire without understanding the terms of the agreement he signed with the Owner of the label; it is apparent that the several situations preceding the death of Mohbad was more than an employee being molested by the Boss; of course, there was the underlying allegation of a drug deal, drug abuse and greed which occurred before the unfortunate death.

However, since the desire of many Nigerians is to see stars fall, it is not unexpected to see several video footage, posts, and supposed prophecies about Naira Marley and his gang.

As against popular ignorant reports flying around, Naira Marley graduated with Distinction in Business from Peckham Academy in the United Kingdom and also studied Business Law at Crossways College, now Christ the King Sixth Form College, also in the UK. so Naira is a well-educated young man.

However, the rather infamous arrest of Naira Marley by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on the 10th of May, 2019 alongside his friends, Omoniyi Temidayo Raphel also known as Zlatan, Tiamiu Kayode, and others brought him much popularity, after the release of the single “AM I A YAHOO BOY?”.

Marley was in custody and charged to court but released on a Two million naira bail about two weeks after pleading not guilty; he afterward released the popular “SOAPY” a single describing masturbation among male prison inmates.

Thereafter, Naira Marley was seen in the company of Funke Akindele and others flouting the COVID-19 Lockdown and social distancing order imposed by former President Muhammadu Buhari; he was also seen performing in a concert in Abuja despite the interstate travel ban.

Now before the Mohbad case erupted, Naira was always seen talking about Mohbad being always High on drugs and he would not post some of Mohbad’s misbehaviour during his drug intoxication for the sake of his signee’s privacy.

Related: Naira Marley’s musico-gangster empire crumbles as local broadcast stations, UK MTV Base, others bans Marlian Music

Unfortunately, the whole country appeared to be against this young man and several youthful exuberances which are not peculiar to Naira Marley suddenly became a weapon to obliterate his career.

Now, a critical analysis of Naira Marley’s life and career is a familiar struggle of low-income earners and gangsters in the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

It is not uncommon for a struggling kid to engage in drug sales, use, petty thefts, street fighting, and so on in any slum or low-income habitat across the world.

Anyone, who has not been in a street fight most likely will be repeatedly bullied, and even as an adult we all have those in the street who appears to be more than others and such superfluousness could only be trashed out with exchanges of fists; thus, if Naira Marley had his 124 arrests and incarcerations from street brawls and gang fighting, it is very normal and no one could use that against him.

Additionally, the ignorance of the general public is forgetting the fact that Naira Marley is an entertainer and it is not uncommon to use explicit words or vulgar language in musical entertainment and almost all these songs are censored and for mature audiences.

The use of sexually explicit content has inundated almost every aspect of human activities, from music to movies to advertisements and sports, therefore, Marley will never go down on the hypocritical excoriations of social media business guys who kept referring to unrelated stories about Naira Marley in order to make cases against him.

Moreover, Naira Marley is not your children’s or youth life coach, so it is not necessary to nail him based on negative influences alleged against his styles of entertainment; there are more vices in Big Brother Naija and Nollywood than what Naira Marley has portrayed in his music.

Nevertheless, we need to ask ourselves the question while unproductive lifestyles gained so much attention and patronage in our society and system.

A promising young Azeez Adeshina Fashola, who had Distinction in Business studies suddenly changed to entertainment with so much reprobate exhibition and socially unacceptable behaviour to make it in life and many people believe he will not influence our youths to follow suit since the ones, who faced their studies could barely make ends meet.

However, my exasperation has come from pots calling the kettle black on the Marley-Mohbad case, as the situation of Employer-Employee intimation is rife in every sector and sadly, alluding unfortunate challenges to a number of Naira Marley’s signees looked insincere because if we check the employees in our institutions, we will understand that lots of them had better lives before joining their present workplaces and nobody has been able to challenge the authorities for bringing misfortunes on the staff members.

I had to put this piece on to assure everyone that until the honourable Court of Justice has charged Naira Marley with any wrongdoing or responsibility on Mohbad’s death, all of you are just playing and it will be appropriate to better face your own lives.

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