PSQUARE, BET WARDS AND ANTI-NIGERIA SENTIMENT

Psquare
The boys of Psquare have at different venues said they have no respect for Nigerian awards. They took this stand immediately after the 2008 Hip Hop World Awards where they had five nominations but did not win any plaque. They vowed that they won't attend any Nigerian awards anymore with or without nominations and true to their words they've not been to any in recent times.

However, earlier in the year they were in Burkina Faso where they received the African artiste of the year award from KORA and collected the cash prize of $1 million. They were also in the United States few weeks ago for the Black Entertainment Award (BET) where they were nominated with M.I, Sade Adu, K'Naan, Estelle, Kojo Antwi, Dizzee Rascal, and others.

Despite our votes and our prayers( and as a matter of fact some of us kept vigil to see if the home boys will bring the plaque), it was not to be as the organizers preferred Dizzee Rascal to M.I , Psquare and even Sade Adu.

Surprisingly, after the awards, Psquare did not complain that they were robbed nor did they raise their voices against mago-mago (foul play) by the organizers . That means they believe that the organizers were right and they in turn accepted their verdicts in good faith. It shows that they believe that 'things' from abroad are better than whatever we have at home.

For me, that is unpatriotic . If award organizers in Nigeria have lost credibility simply because the duo did not win one particular award, why did they feel organizers of BET whom I learnt did not treat our stars right were better? If made in Nigeria is that bad, they in turn aren't that good because they are also homeboys… made here in Nigeria. The point here is that we should learn to value our own and what we have at home. That is where they can be treated truly as stars.

The nominees were not mentioned during the awards and Psquare and MI were lost in the hall as if they were not there in the United States. That would never happen in Nigeria , because we have a system that revers the stars. But when you really feel what you have at home is not good enough, maybe the people outside will redefine the words for you.

Peter is also fond of throwing dirt at Nigerian journalists. He posted on twitter recently that men of the fourth estate lack credibility. 'Na wa for Nigerian journalists o, soon they will say Paul is not my brother' he concluded. I reserve my comment on this but I would ask Peter to check out the newsstand in the United States where they are presently touring and tell me the difference between the journalists there and what we have at home.

I have a lot of respect for Psquare and their songs but when they feel it is time to start disrespecting what we have at home, I would love to remind them of a popular Yoruba proverb: Ile l'apoti njoko d'edi.