Comedian, Basketmouth replies follower who questioned him for choosing to travel out of the country instead of staying to vote

Ace Nigerian comedian, Bright Okpocha, popularly known as Basketmouth, has replied to a follower who accused him of neglecting his civic duties.

It all started when Basketmouth, who is currently in Europe ahead of his tour and will remain there until after the general elections in Nigeria, took to his Instagram page to share photos of himself and his colleague Buchi.

“The Man in Manchester. #BasketmouthUnprovokedTour”, he captioned the post.

See below,

Reacting to the post, a follower pointed out that both of their votes would be lost because of their decision to leave the country at this time.

“We have lost two votes like this”, the follower wrote.

Basketmouth simply responded to the attack by asking the follower to focus on the real issue that Nigeria is facing while highlighting the estimated number of Nigerians who have relocated abroad in search of greener pastures.

“Have you counted the Nigerians that Japa’d. They’re in millions. So, my brother focus on the real problem. I came here for work.” He wrote.

See their exchange below,

This comes after Basketmouth was dragged to filth on social media for fixing his UK tour on election day, February 25.

Basketmouth posted the schedule of his upcoming UK tour on his social media page recently, and the date for his appearance in Hamburg clashes with the presidential election.

This didn’t sit well with a lot of people who didn’t hesitate to lambaste him for fixing his show on a day that would decide the future of Nigeria.

A Twitter user also dug out his old tweet where he criticized his colleagues who were outside the country during the 2015 presidential election, and called out his hypocrisy.

Basketmouth, who was unfazed by the backlash, explained that he has been hosting his UK tour in February for years, and it’s only logical for him to host 2023’s tour in February as well.

He added that the electoral body, INEC, should have consulted him first before fixing the election in February because he picked the month first.

In his response that seemed like satire, Basketmouth wrote,

“I’ve been hosting my UK tour every February for the past 12yrs. Interestingly, there have been times when the elections coincided with my shows.

Unfortunately, INEC has never deemed it fit to check with me before fixing the date for the elections. Since I picked February to host my tour first, I think it’s only fair for me to go ahead with the dates. Thank you. Please don’t forget to buy tickets “