Tekno
The Federal Government has promised to bring sanity into the social
lives of citizens and stop the debasement of humanity and the pride of
Nigerian women by making scapegoats of some persons.
The government was reacting to the controversial music video by a
popular musician, Augustine Kelechi, aka Tekno, with scenes of four
semi-nude women dancing in a moving van on the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge
in Lagos.
The artiste, in the four-minute video, was seen throwing money suspected to be dollars at the young women.
The government expressed disappointment that despite ongoing
investigations into the anomaly, Tekno went ahead to release the
offensive video.
In the official music video for the song, ‘Agege,’ which was
released on Thursday, Tekno was seen in the moving van performing to the
camera with the half-clad women dancing seductively.
A statement on Sunday by the Director General, National Council for
Arts and Culture, a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Information
and Culture, Segun Runsewe, said Tekno would be made a scapegoat “to
teach others a serious lesson.”
According to him, the NCAC is committed to exposing proponents of
such kind of offensive sights and videos in Nigeria, while security
agencies will be briefed to place Tekno on their watch list, “because
his conduct is a threat to national security.”
Runsewe said he got hundreds of telephone calls and SMS from
Nigerians, both at home and in the Diaspora, who queried why such
immorality would be allowed in the country.
He stated, “We commend the police for arresting Tekno for the
shameful misconduct. The same person, who was granted bail on health
grounds has gone ahead to release the controversial video. We are now
warning him to desist from this shameful conduct, which is not part of
our culture.
“No single person is bigger than Nigeria; whether he likes it
or not, we are going to use him as a scapegoat to send strong signals
that this government does not tolerate nonsense and immorality, but
discipline, which is our moral principle.
“Since the offensive Tekno scam video came to the limelight, I
have received hundreds of telephone calls and SMS from Nigerians at home
and others in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and other parts
of the world querying why such anomalies would be tolerated in Nigeria.
“Now that he has released the shameful video when investigation
is still ongoing, we are going to inform security agencies to place him
on their watch list, because his action is a threat to national
security and a bad influence on Nigerian youths.
“We are committed to exposing proponents of this kind of
offensive sights and videos. We warn that nudity is not part of our
culture and should not be tolerated. The Federal Government will
henceforth fish out clubs for nude dancers across the country for their
promoters to face prosecution.”
The PUNCH had reported that Section 134 (a) of the Criminal Law of
Lagos State, 2015, stipulated that an indecent act in a public place
would make both parties engaging in the act liable to imprisonment for
two years.
Section 136 also states that any person, who commits any act of
gross indecency with another person in public, commits an offence and is
liable upon conviction to three years imprisonment.