Social critic on Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter), Solomon Buchi, has shared his thoughts regarding the recent tension in Nigeria’s Christian community over gospel music’s commercialisation.

His comments come days after Pastor Femi Lazarus criticised gospel singers for charging fees for appearances, prompting a sharp rebuttal from Timi Dakolo, a prominent Nigerian gospel artist.

Dakolo defended musicians, highlighting the financial investments required for their craft, such as studio costs and promotion, and questioned why churches expect free services while spending heavily on other areas like architecture and pastoral salaries.

Buchi’s stance amplifies this debate, suggesting gospel music should be a service or business, not a ministry, and urging musicians to diversify income through roles like session musicians or songwriters

His post has resonated with some Nigerians while triggering a backlash from others defending gospel music’s spiritual role.

He went on to suggest the gospel can continue without his music. In his words, “Church numbers would drop if we yanked off ‘good music’ from most modern Pentecostal churches; take off the guitars, pianos, drums and strip it down to just a worship leader and a congregational choir. We have made an idol of music, thus, making music ministry an essential disaster.” “It’s easy to agree that gospel music ministry is hugely compromised. They compete for awards “best worship song of the year”; they chase Spotify and Apple streams and end up copying world sounds and trends to produce marketable songs solely for profit, and they charge for their ministrations.”

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