Entertainment
On ‘No Music Day’ COSON asks Ganduje to pardon musician sentenced to death
BY NICHOLAS ABE
Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) has appealed to Kano State governor, Umar Abdullahi Ganduje, to pardon the 22-year-old musician, Aminu Yahaya Sharif, who was recently sentenced to death for blasphemy, by the Kano Upper Shari’a Court.
In an address issued today, September 1, in Lagos, on the occasion of the society’s No Music Day celebration, COSON chairman Chief Tony Okoroji, called for amnesty for the young artiste convicted for alleged blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad, through series of audio messages circulated via WhatsApp in March 2020.
“As we mark No Music Day, we wish to humbly appeal for the pardon of the 22-year-old musician in Kano State, Aminu Yahaya Sharif, who was recently sentenced to death for blasphemy. We wish to state that we are an organisation representing the interest of musicians and others in the music industry.
“Our organisation is neither religious, political or tribal. We have members from every state in Nigeria belonging to different religions and different political parties and we respect the beliefs of each of them. We make our appeal on completely humanitarian and compassionate grounds and hope that other organisations and individuals will join us in pleading that the life of this young Nigerian is spared,” Okoroji remarked.
Okoroji said the key objective of No Music Day celebration was to engage the Nigerian people and government at all levels, on the contributions of the music industry to the development of the nation and the need to fully deploy the enormous creativity in the sector appropriately to create wealth for the nation and its people, especially youths.
“Everywhere you go, the ingenuity of the Nigerian people continues to be on display. Our music, movies, literature, fashion, programming, and similar products of the creative endeavour are in substantial demand across the world. In the creative industry, Nigeria has significant comparative advantage. We are only asking for people who have the vision, the passion and the understanding of the new world to be in the right positions to spark the fire and change the national narrative,” he said.
No Music Day dates back to September 1, 2009 when some Nigerian artistes embarked on a week-long hunger strike in front of the National Arts Theatre, Lagos. The musicians were protesting the devastating effect of piracy on their intellectual property.