It’s 2018, a lot people want Eedris Abdulkareem to plain shut up, since he’s only relevant as a controversy stoker who dwells in perpetual bitterness these days. For an artist whose abrasiveness translated into music piercing the social veil in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, Eedris’ outspokenness is his current bane, but it’s also the reason his music was shaking tables long before the popularity of social media.

There’s never a part of Eedris’ tongue residing in his cheek, and laying it all out – sometimes arrogantly – is important to the poignancy of his songs. One of his biggest hit songs “Mr. Lecturer,” masterfully packages the illegal, extracurricular sport of lecturers harassing female students for sex, hanging potential failure as the undulating force of coercion in most cases.

I was about 10 years old then, but I was able to understand the machinations of such toxic use of power presented in the video for “Mr. Lecturer” on TV. Unfolding as both dialogue between student (Bimbo Owoyemi) and lecturer, and the troubled musings of the victim, “Mr. Lecturer” is creative with its matter of fact approach. It’s impressively simple and infinitely catchy – some might even consider it basic and poppy, but that’s what ultimately helps the efficacy of “Mr. Lecturer”, so much so that a 10 year old can grasp it in one listen.

Just as Terry Tha Rapman’s “Only 4 Naija” retrospectively seethes at the dominant redundancy strangling Nigeria’s sociopolitical state, Eedris’ “Mr. Lecturer” (a song that is over 15 years old, by the way) is also an unfortunate reminder that nothing has actually changed. And this is worthy of note, especially in light of a recent, popular scandal involving a female student and her professor.

More on that in a minute…

In the final scene of “Mr. Lecturer,” police officers stuff the lecturer into their vehicle, probably with the purpose of taking him into custody in order to question him on charges brought forward by the student. While the latter part of the previous sentence hints at it, everyone knows that justice is a near-utopian concept in these parts, and “Mr. Lecturer” returns for a disappointing but expected sequel.

On one hand, a sequel of a hit song for continuity sake is a shrewd move that offers a photocopy of the success its predecessor accrued. On the other hand, “Mr. Lecturer II” looks at the sex-for-marks conundrum through an inverted lens. This time around, female students are the ones offering sex in order to get those grades up. There’s no clear protagonist on “Mr. Lecturer II,” the obvious argument being that it is fundamentally wrong to use sex as a transaction in bargaining for marks, so both parties are at fault if the deed is done.

Ethically, this scenario is a crime, but with the ultimate decision bordering on the moral compass of the professor being seduced, it can be argued that there’s no antagonists, since it’s two adults consensually having sex. It’s this uncertainty that gives “Mr. Lecturer II” a gnawing lack of direction, and it shows, as the song which wanders about like a headless chicken.

On “Mr. Lecturer II,” Eedris plays the typically expected role of men not being able to rein in their thirst, but then weakly tries contradicts his persona with a drab verse that advises parents to warn their female offspring off predators like him. Not only is it wry, “Mr. Lecturer II” lacks the heart its predecessor shows while damning its own nuances in a tragicomic way.

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A phone call recording containing a conversation between a female student of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife and a male professor surfaced online recently, in which the professor demands to have sex, five times, with the student in order to change her marks.

https://twitter.com/EnekemGreg/status/983305785907269632?s=20

While this scandal contains what can be described as tangible evidence that should focus on the professor, a lot of reactions have skewed the narrative to reflect shades of “Mr. Lecturer II” instead of the “Mr. Lecturer” case which it really is. All you have to do is scroll beneath the tweet containing the evidence, or go a step further by reading comments from the member’s of the accused’s church. An “all lives matter” cop out that seeks to obscure the original matter hand.

Any case that’s first tried in the public court of opinions, at its best, brings a prismatic view that can benefit it. But in a lot of cases, providing antithetical angles (or worse, crass jokes as is the Nigerian norm) in order to make a point can nonsensically strangle the prominence of what is being discussed.

Living in a conservative society that’s also hypocritical means that matters involving sex are made to seem like taboos in an unnecessarily complicated manner, but they are still treated with some shocking degree of carelessness, like peeling boiled egg with brute force. Not only does this behavior spill into sexual harassment matters rather unceremoniously, it doesn’t seem to linger long enough to want to trigger any real change.

It is worth noting that BBNaija was going on at the time the news of the scandal broke and apparently, a certain contestant deserved more ire than the alleged erring party of this scandal – it’s not like social media has the capacity for multitasking. If an issue that should be carrying much gravitas is being greeted with relative aloofness, it makes me wonder if we’re waiting for Eedris to make “Mr. Lecturer III,” in 2018. After the last installment, though, we might as well cling to the original song.

But as descriptive as it is, the simplicity of “Mr. Lecturer” doesn’t capture all the factors involved in the scenario it depicts, hence the need for a more expansive take, maybe that would spark something real this time. Queue in the latest episode of eLDee’s Nigerian American podcast, titled “3 Sessions.”

Unlike an Eedris who’s declining to age gracefully, with his nous for unnecessary controversy and bluntness, eLDee’s status as Nigerian music royalty has not been faced by self-effacing remarks. Coming across as intelligent, calculated, confident and likeable, eLDee’s transition into media (and other ventures like Playdata) doesn’t ultimately bank on the novelty of his legendary status, it’s the infinite amount of value he seeks to add, especially vivid with a direct service like Nigerian American. Episodes of the podcast may take varying dimensions, but there’s always knowledge to pick up.

Supposedly set at OAU, Ile-Ife, “3 Sessions” obviously derives direct inspiration from the recent, above mentioned scandal. In examining the push-pull interactions involved in its own iteration of events, an apt amount of extra roles are added to “3 Sessions” to give it more depth and improved context.

The consequences and reactions of these introduced characters vary with their position and in relation to the scandal being depicted. There’s the harasser demanding “3 sessions” of sexual intercourse to improve marks, he’s eventually vindicated after playing the victim/holier-than-thou card, all the while also benefitting from his status as a professor; the disillusioned victim who has to plead guilty and blab out an apology in public because of immense pressure, and she also has to stay an extra year in school; the victim’s boyfriend whose passion leads him to confront and call out the professor but unknowingly escalates the situation negatively, eventually having to deliver a public apology and stay a year in school.

Other minor but significant casts are: the victim’s father who’s tone of embarrassment seemed to focus more on the fact that her daughter was probably in a sexual relationship with someone within her age range; the victim’s friend who apparently had sex with the professor for improved grades – you can imagine the advice she gave; the boyfriend’s professor that warned his student off the situation, advising him to better go apologize, even though he was in the right.

As with other episodes of Nigerian American, the technical aspects expertly help in conveying the story and resolution on “3 Sessions” – so much so that eLDee jetting between vocal cadences to play multiple male characters doesn’t muddle the trajectory one bit. eLDee’s knack for in-depth analysis is accompanied by his strength as a stellar narrator toward the end of the podcast, when he explains that sexual harassment in universities have been criminalized through the “Sexual Harassment in tertiary education institution bill” passed in October 2016.

Naturally, you’d expect the bill to be a welcome development, but ASUU didn’t see it that way, describing the bill as a way to undermine the autonomy of universities. While the sexual harassment bill should at least reinforce a hardline stance, this recent scandal has shown how much it has done to deter this situations. It’s not like laws aren’t broken everyday, even the senator who sponsored this bill is involved in the recent stolen mace ruckus.

Even if the bill is only effective on paper, providing a safe space for students should be a priority for the management of universities. “3 Sessions” contains a feasible – even real life – conclusion that has happened under the university autonomy system, it won’t change until aggression against harassment cases increases and their inability to indict one of their own stops. One can only hope change begins with this OAU case – at least the accused lecturer has been suspended, but it still doesn’t seem too bright for the alleged victim.

On the outside though, the conversation needs to be amplified onto a mainstream level. In its 46 minute runtime, “3 Sessions” not only proves to be an essential listen, it’s also a more nuanced take that adds renewed impetus to the subject matter “Mr. Lecturer” broached years ago.