A Canada-based Nigeria known on Instagram as Femi Shine has fired back at singer, Simi for her recent tirade against internet fraudsters.
Recall that Simi had spoken against ‘Yahoo boys’ and had even called on them to boycott her music. She said at the time, “Common guys, you don’t have to like me, you don’t have to listen to my music, you don’t have to send me, but you see, I am not the enemy. I can easily sit down and pretend that nothing is wrong and just make money, smile, cheers blah blah, but the thing is, I care too much, if I didn’t give a sh*t, I wouldn’t say anything. I’ve had friends that have done Yahoo. I’ve had friends that have thought about it”
Responding to Simi, the Canada-based ideator wrote in a lengthy note that the singer should try walking in the “sand-filled shoes” of the people she condemns and also advised her to take the gospel to the slum:
“I hesitated to address your recent pep talk because I’d sound hypocritical and my stand will be morally selective which is not my intent. Simi, I’m glad you’ve made headway in this treacherous industry even though I’m not a fan of your music.
Your voice annoys me. You remind me of a CAC chorister back in my uni hostel who would wake the whole hostel up singing Tope Alabi’s songs whilst doing her laundry by the well. I’ve never bought your album/songs and I hurriedly skip them when they pop up in my streams. I’m not a hater, just absolutely not a fan. I pray you continue to be successful in your career.
On your recent tirade. Simi you behaved like an out of touch elitist and showed that you lacked exposure and empathy to the plight of people who live on the other unsavory side. From what I deduced, you went to a private school and from the known fees, I guess your parents are possibly middle class or well off.
Therefore your rose petaled path through life has clouded your idea of what the reality of life on the streets of Nigeria is. iFraud by all means is wrong and it’s ripple effects is immeasurable. You see, I grew up in the Oworo, Bariga and Makoko axis, this runs from the start of the third mainland bridge all the way to Adeniji, next time you’re cruising through just take a look at the ghettos on your right as you ascend the bridge.
Poverty is rife there and I witnessed it first hand. Simi have you experienced watching your mother gasp for breath as life slowly leaves her because of the lack of 200naira ventolin inhaler? When I was 7, I witnessed a neighbor/friend of mine pass away right in his mother’s arms because of lack of care for his sickle cell condition.
His father put his corpse in a rice sack and went to dump his body in the lagoon in the middle of the night, because they couldn’t afford to bury him. In the same sack the boy had used to hawk rice earlier in the day! I didn’t write this to garner empathy from the readers in support of reasons why a lot of Nigerians are into fraud but to make you understand that if you haven’t been in a situation where your humanity and morality has been tested to its limit then don’t be unsympathetic!
Our government is committing capital murder in the way our citizens are being treated. I call it capital murder because there is no reason why any Nigerian should die from malaria in 2019! But it’s happening.
As you’re reading this, some young girls are braving the perils of the desert and high seas which include rape, kidnapping and death to get to Europe just to get there and go through the unimaginable to raise funds for their families back home. Simi you can’t walk in their sand filled shoes! You’d say they have a choice and there are jobs. That’s easily said on paper. There are no jobs!!!
There’s absolutely nothing and penury is the order of the day. A lot of people are burying their conscience in a bid to survive in Nigeria. Do you think the ladies of the night when asked as kids said ” I’d like to stand by the road all night and offer my body to be plowed by different phalluses till the break of dawn and beyond ”
The government has failed them, the church that is supposed to be the bedrock of morality in the community is ripping the people off their hard earned sweat in exchange for placebo hopes. Don’t attack the dejected and rejected Simi.
You were beating your chest saying you care. Alright, take your sermon to the slums of Bariga and I pray you come back unscathed.”
