I have been a Tiwatope Savage fan for quite some time. My admiration for her is multifaceted. Starting with her music, she has continued to dish out hits after hits, defying the numerous odds that prevent longevity in the Nigerian music industry, especially for female acts. In her impressive musical career, she has never released any hitless album. Another impressive attribute of Tiwa is her looks. At 40 years of age, she could play the role of a teenager in a movie convincingly. The alluring role she enacted in Wizkid’s video Fever broke the Nigerian internet in 2018. However, the most inspiring quality of Tiwa Savage is her work ethics. Her former record label executive, Don Jazzy once narrated how she continued to work while heavily pregnant and produced a hits laden album with that effort years ago. Tiwa Savage is a runaway success story in many respects. And for me, she is Nigeria’s number one female musical artist. Her 2019 venture into the international music market with a new global music label, opens a new chapter in a career that should ordinarily be rounding up but is gaining new grounds yearly.

When Tiwa commented on a photoshopped image of the former Destiny Child diva Kelly Roland a few months ago on a sensitive body issue like stretch marks, l was concerned. Some other followers of Tiwa also felt the same way and commented on her wall about it, some even went as far as saying her remark was dumb. I was expecting a backlash also from Kelly, but she took the high road by saying kind words to Tiwa, interpreting the harmlessness of her post in her response to those who criticized Tiwa Savage. So, when Tiwa recently called out Beyonce about her silence in the #ENDSARS protest, I was like, what is Tiwa feeling like. I later dismissed this somewhat demeaning thought. Not long afterward, Beyonce added a post to the growing number of African American celebrities condemning the Nigerian Police brutality. People often say the end justifies the means, hence, when I saw Beyonce’s post I concluded that though I was not comfortable with her criticism of Beyonce, nonetheless, her efforts have yielded a post from Beyonce that would increase the number of people that are globally aware of what is happening in Nigeria.

A few days later, Beyonce’s mother responded to Tiwa Savage’s post in a Beyonce might have responded if she was not being politically and ethnically correct. Her mother’s response brought me back to my earlier thoughts about the inappropriateness of Tiwa’s posts and remarks about Kelly Roland and Beyonce. One of my earlier thoughts about the reason behind Tiwa’s criticism of her global counterpart was cheap popularity. I really did not think Tiwa felt the Nigerian protest needed Beyonce’s attention and contribution. Many fading or less popular artists often pick fights with their more popular counterparts to boost their visibility. Fading celebrities like Kanye West’s former girlfriend Amber Rose and 50 Cents have used this strategy in the past. Tiwa’s motives might have nothing to do with mining the fan base of Beyonce, notwithstanding, I still think her post was unsisterly. I can imagine what Tiwa Savage would do if a less popular Nigerian or African artist does a similar thing to her. We must all put ourselves in people’s shoes before taking actions against them. Everyone is facing one challenge or the other and we must not encroach into their space unthoughtfully. As Nigerians, we must stop our dependence on foreign organizations and individuals. We must create homegrown solutions for our numerous and growing problems. We do not need the United Nations or States to solve our problems for us. In the same vein, we do not need Beyonce or any foreign celebrity to join our fight for our fight to be effective. We must strategize independently because such dependence often ends in disappointments. Their contributions should be voluntary and not coaxed. And as we move forward in our fight for a new and better Nigeria, let us take individual responsibility for the Nigeria of our dreams.

Ata Ukuta, Editor – www.towncryyers.com