Fela Kuti and Femi Kuti in 1983
(Instagram/femiakuti)
Popular singer and activist Femi Kuti has attributed the freedom of speech to his father, Fela Kuti.
According to him, "For
one decade, my father was speaking about injustice, corruption and
dictatorship but he was a lone voice. But today, Nigerians on social
media speak freely especially on social media and they don’t even know
why," he said.
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Fela with white chalk on his face (thenationonlineng)
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He didn't stop there, adding, "It’s
because one man paid the price for them to be able to speak at a time
when their fathers and mothers were too scared to speak when my father
was speaking and this is the fact of our history that is not even taught
in our schools".
"Before likes
of Femi Falana, Gani Fawehinmi and co, there was Fela Anikulapo Kuti. It
was Fela that inspired all these other human rights activists to start
talking, everybody was too scared and it was at the most brutal times of
the most brutal regimes in Nigeria and that is a change."
Fela
Anikulapo-Ransom Kuti during the height of his popularity, was often
hailed as one of Africa's most "challenging and charismatic music
performers.
He was a Panafricanist, pioneer of the Afrobeat music genre, human rights activist and a political maverick.
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