Why We’ll make Tekno a scapegoat – FG

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.”

It was 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.

(Credit: PUNCH)