Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has defended award-winning superstar singer, Davido, amidst heavy criticism from Muslims. Soyinka added his voice to the viral video of some aggrieved youths who took to the streets of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, to protest against a music video promoted by Davido, which they deemed disrespectful to their religion.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Soyinka offered reasons why Davido should not apologize to the group. He cited how the former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El Rufai, had made derogatory comments against Christians in the past but was never asked to apologize.

“There was nothing to apologize about, and that applied equally to El Rufai’s comments at the time. It should come as no surprise that I equally absolutely disagree with Shehu Sani, if indeed, as reported, he has demanded an apology from Davido ok behalf of the Muslim community”.

The literary icon also mentioned scenes from Whoopi Goldberg’s “Sister Act” and highlighted that it was not Davido’s music that led to the lynching of Deborah Yakubu, a second-year Christian college student who was killed by a mob of Muslim students in Sokoto last year over alleged blasphemy.

Soyinka urged Nigerians to learn to differentiate between practitioners and their objects of devotion.