Veteran Nigerian rapper and record label CEO, Jude Abaga, popularly known as M.I Abaga, has opened up about why some celebrities remain silent when politicians come under public criticism.

Speaking on a recent episode of the "Outside The Box" podcast, M.I explained that personal relationships with politicians often influence whether celebrities choose to voice criticism or not.

According to him, having a friend in politics can create a moral dilemma: a celebrity might understand the people’s grievances yet hesitate to join in the backlash in order to preserve personal connections.

The music star recalled an instance when he had a late-night meeting with the governor of Plateau State, where they discussed plans for the creative industry until 2:30 a.m. He admitted that such interactions make it harder for him to publicly criticize the governor.

He said, “Most artists have a friend that’s entered into politics, you know, and because you have a friend that’s entered into politics, you might have a closer understanding of an issue, you know, and you are also seeing that person receiving the insults and you don’t just want your voice to be part of the insult. It’s not like you don’t think the person, you just don’t want your own voice. Like, you can, like, let me use an example, like, the governor of Jos, I have my perspective of meeting with him at those two thirties.

“I’ve seen it. I’ve sat with him and he’s tired. This, do you understand, he’s the governor of a state and he’s staying up to two thirty to talk to me about my plan for the creative industry.

“So if something comes up where he’s getting a lot of pushback, I may refrain from speaking not because I don’t think that the critique is necessary for him but because I don’t, I want to speak to the person I met at two thirty. You know what I mean? He may need some, he may need a few people that are going to be like, but I see what you did at two thirty. Yeah, you are getting a lot of kickback but I still see the good in you.

“You know, this is part of being a human being”.