Nigerian rapper, actor, and social commentator Folarin Falana, better known by his stage name Falz, has moved to set the record straight on a long-running public perception: that he backed a particular candidate during the 2023 general election.
Speaking on Arise Television’s “Prime Time” program this week, the entertainer insisted his activism has never strayed into partisan endorsement and that his sole political cause has been getting Nigerians, especially the youth, to the polls.
The clarification comes at a pointed moment. With attention already turning toward the 2027 general elections and opposition figures repositioning themselves, Falz’s remarks read as a deliberate effort to detach his public brand from any single camp.
He told his interviewer that he had never openly supported Peter Obi or any other politician or party, either in 2023 or at any other time, stressing instead that his role has been to encourage citizens to vote.
The musician, who was a visible face of the #EndSARS protests and has periodically been associated in public discourse with Nigeria’s youth-driven political awakening, was careful to draw a line between civic mobilization and political allegiance.
He framed his consistent message as a call for a free and fair democratic process, one in which citizens make their preferences known and turn out to vote, describing this as essential to strengthening the country’s democracy.
Pressed on why he has kept politicians at arm’s length, Falz did not mince words about his skepticism toward the political establishment.
He argued that Nigeria’s political class has essentially been recycled over the years, with the same set of figures being reshuffled into different offices, making it difficult for him to vouch for any Nigerian politician heading into the current cycle. It was a rare moment of blunt disillusionment from a public figure often looked to for political cues by younger Nigerians.
Still, he left the door slightly ajar. Falz said he could reconsider his stance if he ever found a candidate he believed in without reservation, but that for now he remains deliberately cautious about publicly backing anyone.
The entertainer also pushed back on the cynical view, common among disillusioned voters, that elections don’t really matter. He pointed to the persistence of vote-buying as evidence to the contrary, reasoning that politicians would not spend money purchasing votes if elections carried no real consequence. It’s an argument he has made before, aimed squarely at counteracting voter apathy among young Nigerians who have grown weary of the political process.
Beyond the endorsement question, Falz used the platform to renew calls for structural reform of the electoral system, in particular, like electronic transmission of results, which he argued would boost transparency given the scale of public funds already committed to elections.
He tied this to what he considers the central lesson of 2023: that a decisively higher voter turnout would make it far harder for results to be manipulated, since an overwhelming majority is difficult to falsify.
Falz’s comments arrive against a backdrop of intensifying pre-2027 positioning, with opposition figures like Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi facing renewed pressure and commentary from within the political class, the very churn of familiar names Falz cited as his reason for staying on the sidelines.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
Falz isn’t backing any politician he never has. His only agenda is getting Nigerians to vote, because a massive, undeniable turnout is the one thing that makes elections too hard to rig or dismiss.
