Popular Nigerian human rights activist, and musician Folarin Falana aka Falz, has thrown another missile at the Nigerian leaders and actors in democracy in his song titled “Yakubu” featuring Vector. This comes shortly after Owa, another song in which he bemoans the mis-governance and other issues affecting the Nigerian people. In this article, Naijabanquet reviews Yakubu, explaining the meaning of the lyrics, as well as the moments captured in the music video.
Meaning of “Yakubu” Lyrics by Falz ft. Vector
The 2023 presidential election is one of the most criticised elections in the history of the country. Quite a population of the country, especially the youth believe that the election, which produced the APC’s Bola Ahmed Tinubu as president-elect was marred by electoral malpractices which include vote buying, rigging, ballot snatching, voters’ intimidation, and other forms of irregularities.
It is also speculated that Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC received a bribe from the APC and their candidate. Hence, the belief is that these circumstances robbed the candidate of the Labour party, Peter Obi the number one seat in Nigeria. In this connection, Falz lampoons the Nigerian government, INEC and other actors involved in the electoral rigmarole in Yakubu lyrics.
The lyrics of Yakubu by Falz and Vector open with the song personae apostrophizing the INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu. He questions the budget and expenses of the commission:
"Mr Yakubu! E ma n se bi fraudster You don’t want to prosper Come and collect Oscar 300 billion te gbà lówó ìjoba Kà le fi se ná sir?"
Apparently, the above avers that Falz finds it ridiculous that the election for which N300 billion is budgeted could end up as the biggest fraud in the country’s democracy. Hence, he attacks the chair of the commission for swindling Nigerians in the presidential elections.
A further understanding of the lyrics shows that the people initially trust Prof Mahmood. They believe that INEC would usher in the desired change in government this time around. To their surprise, however, the election happens to be one of the worst in the history of Nigeria.
Therefore, the meaning of “Yakubu” in the lyrics is that of fraud, fakery, and punctured democracy.
Falz lists the police ineptness, violence, thuggery, ballot snatching, rigging and serious permutation of the number of votes cast as some atrocities that marred the election.
"Suddenly e scatter Area boy ti jagba As Ole dey japa Olopa dey guide am You wayo the number The portal, e shut down You drop us the lamba Somebody e hack am"
He furthers that no explanations can justify the electoral fraud and neither can any misinterpretation of the law can fool the electorate. According to him, many pieces of evidence point to the fact that the electoral process is bastardised.
The police are also criticized for their participation in the “fraud.” Instead of protecting the votes of the people and making sure they count at the end of the day, they are abetting sponsored thugs to snatch cart away ballot boxes.
Summarily, Falz Yakubu lyrics meaning follows the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria. In the song, the singer lampoons the INEC and its chairman for conducting a fraudulent election, and seeks justice for the electorate who have been supposedly robbed of their choice.
Rating: 9/10
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