Fans criticise Basketmouth over planned concert

Popular stand-up comedian, Basketmouth (real name is Bright Okpocha) ,was at the receiving end of flak from fans on Wednesday after he announced plans to host a live concert, which will feature appearances by Patoranking, Wizkid, Olamide and comedians from South Africa, Uganda and Nigeria, at the Apollo in London on February 14.

In an open invitation posted on Instagram on Wednesday, the comedian indicated that he has made an offer of free entry to only students who register for the show at a specified online address.

But some Nigerians reacted to the offer with mixed feelings. While some kicked against the timing of the concert, which coincides with the date of the scheduled 2015 presidential election in Nigeria, and accused the comedian of planning to distract his fans from the poll, others rose quickly in his defence.

Wondering if Basketmouth’s real intention was to avoid casting his vote on that day, a respondent commented, “It’s so sad to see people who are role models do this. Why must you have a show on the day the Federal Government has declared elections? It is Valentine’s Day, but we need to respect the authorities and our country.”

Reacting to the information, one Trevonatoe said Basketmouth would not dare host a concert on Election Day if he were a citizen of the USA. But he advised the comedian to “get wise” and show some respect to his country.

But, reacting to calls to Basketmouth to postpone the concert and stay put in Nigeria till the end of the general elections, Ashagangagali appealed to other respondents to consider the trouble that the comedian had to go through to organise the event.

He wrote, “Basketmouth started planning his Valentine’s Day event since last year, I trust, as a professional. Who would have thought that the Federal Government would choose that day to host an election and at a very short notice? Now the question is; should the comedian cancel his own show, after spending a lot of money and resources, because of the election? Who will pay his children’s school fees, if he does that?”