"Nigerians on social media speak freely because of Fela" - singer

omotolani

November 17, 2016 9:47 AM

Fela Kuti and Femi Kuti in 1983

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.

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.

omotolani