Nigerian singer Brymo, real name Olawale Ashimi, is facing a growing backlash over comments he made about the country’s Igbo ethnic group.
More than 28,000 people have signed a Change.org petition to prevent the singer from receiving the All Africa Music Award (Afrima) for songwriter of the year.
He retweeted a Twitter post that referred to the Igbos, who hail from the southeast of the country, and are one of its largest ethnic groups, as “cowards”.
He also said in one post that a president from the Igbo ethnic group is a “pipe dream” and used an offensive expletive to refer to the Igbo people.
In February’s presidential election, Peter Obi, an Igbo candidate, is gaining enthusiastic support from many of Nigeria’s youth and on social media.
People online are furious and calling Brymo’s comments “xenophobic” and “racist”.
Brymo, a Yoruba ethnic group member, told the Nigerian newspaper The Punch that he is supporting Bola Ahmed Tinubu in next month’s election out of “choice,” not because Mr. Tinubu is also a Yoruba.
Nigeria as a country still faces tensions between its various ethnic and religious groups, which can spill over into elections. Brymo also told The Punch that his remarks were not intended to be anti-Igbo: “I did not mean to imply that an Igbo person is unfit for the presidency. That sounds a little ‘tribalistic.'”
