Renowned rapper Tobechukwu Melvin Ejiofor, popularly known as Illbliss, has raised alarms about the troubling state of Nigeria, describing the country as being in “a very dangerous part” of its history. Speaking during a recent appearance on the Real Shareholders podcast, he pointed to escalating insecurity, deepening economic challenges, rampant corruption, and the growing influence of state-driven propaganda as major concerns.
Illbliss recounted how his politically charged song “Country”, released in 2020, was removed from radio playlists due to its critical message. He explained that this wasn’t an isolated case, as his earlier tracks—“A Different Kind Of War” and “National Cake”—also faced rejection from on-air personalities wary of government backlash.
“I had this record in 2020 called ‘Country.’ It was taken off the radio. Before ‘Country,’ I released other conscious songs like, ‘A Different Kind Of War’ and ‘National Cake.’ But OAPs are always saying that they cannot play such songs because they could get fined.”
The rapper also shared his experience with digital pushback, revealing that critical music releases often attract orchestrated online responses, which he believes are not organic.
“Every now and then, you put out a record and you see like a 100 or more tweets come at you like, ‘Why are you always trying to make a mockery of the country? The country is not as bad as it is.’ And you just now that it is an artificial pushback, perhaps, a digital response to whatever. Because I know that propaganda can’t just be on traditional media anymore. Propagandists can have a podcast just to say the government is doing great. And you will see people from our generation sit proudly with their faces showing and say, ‘But this government has created jobs. You can tell.’”
Illbliss concluded with a stark warning that the Nigerian government is no longer passive about criticism. Instead, it is becoming more strategic and aggressive in its counter-narratives, even dominating the same digital platforms once used to hold it accountable.
“That is where we are. We are in a very dangerous part of our history where the government is matching our energy. We thought we had social media but so much happens on the same social media space and you begin to wonder the government had begun to fund theories of distraction or is this government a lot more advanced now? I mean, look around us.”